| Chromophobia | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Chromatophobia |
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| The fear of the color red is callederythrophobia. | |
| Specialty | Psychology |
Chromophobia (also known aschromatophobia[1] orchrematophobia[2]) is a persistent,irrational fear of, or aversion to,colors and is usually aconditioned response.[2] While actual clinical phobias to color are rare, colors can elicithormonal responses and psychological reactions.[3]
Chromophobia may also refer to an aversion of use of color in products or design.[4] Withincellular biology, "chromophobic" cells are a classification of cells that do not attracthematoxylin,[5] and is related tochromatolysis.[6]
Names exist that mean fear of specific colors such aserythrophobia for the fear ofred,xanthophobia for the fear ofyellow andleukophobia for the fear ofwhite.[2] A fear of the color red may be associated with a fear of blood.[2]
In his bookChromophobia published in 2000,David Batchelor says that in Western culture, color has often been treated as corrupting, foreign or superficial.[7] Michael Taussig states that the cultural aversion to color can be traced back a thousand years,[8] with Batchelor stating that it can be traced back toAristotle's privileging of line over color.[9]
In a study, hatchlingloggerhead sea turtles were found to have an aversion to lights in the yellow wave spectrum which is thought to be a characteristic that helps orient themselves toward the ocean.[10][11] TheMediterranean sand smelt,Atherina hepsetus, has shown an aversion to red objects placed next to a tank while it will investigate objects of other colors.[12] In other experiments,geese have been conditioned to have adverse reactions to foods of a particular color, although the reaction was not observed in reaction to colored water.[13]
The title character inAlfred Hitchcock'sMarnie has an aversion to the color red caused by a trauma during her childhood[14] which Hitchcock presents through expressionistic techniques, such as awash of red coloring a close up of Marnie.[15]
The term colorphobia can also be used to refer to its literal etymological origin to refer to an apprehension towards image processing on one's vision and its visual perceptual property.[16] However, the term's association with a racial component has been used by public figures such asFrederick Douglass.[17]
Leukophobia often takes the form of a fixation on pale skin. Those with the phobia may make implausible assumptions such as paleness necessarily representing ill health or aghost.[18] In other cases, leukophobia is directed more towards the symbolic meaning of whiteness, for instance in individuals who associate the color white with chastity and are opposed to or fear chastity.[19] InPaul Beatty's novelSlumberland, leukophobia refers to racism.[20]
| Chrysophobia | fear of the color orange |
| Cyanophobia | fear of the color blue |
| Erythrophobia | fear of the color red, maroon, and also of blushing |
| Glaucophobia | fear of the color gray |
| Kastanophobia | fear of the color brown |
| Leukophobia | fear of the color white |
| Melanophobia | fear of the color black |
| Porphyrophobia | fear of the color purple |
| Prasinophobia | fear of the color green |
| Rhodophobia | fear of the color pink |
| Xanthophobia | fear of the color yellow |
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