Chromophobia (also known as chromatophobia
) is a persistent,
irrational fear of, or aversion to,
color
Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
s and is usually a
conditioned response.
While actual clinical phobias to color are rare, colors can elicit
hormonal responses and psychological reactions.
Chromophobia may also refer to an aversion of use of color in products or design.
Within
cellular biology
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the Anatomy, structure, Physiology, function, and behavior of cell (biology), cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life th ...
, "
chromophobic" cells are a classification of cells that do not attract
hematoxylin
Haematoxylin American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or hematoxylin (), also called natural black 1 or Colour Index International, C.I. 75290, is a chemical compound, compound extracted from wood#Heartwood and sapwood, heart ...
,
and is related to
chromatolysis.
Terminology
Names exist that mean fear of specific colors such as ''erythrophobia'' for the fear of
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...
, ''xanthophobia'' for the fear of
yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...
and ''leukophobia'' for the fear of
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
.
A fear of the color red may be associated with a fear of blood.
Overview
In his book ''Chromophobia '' published in 2000,
David Batchelor says that in Western culture, color has often been treated as corrupting, foreign or superficial.
Michael Taussig states that the cultural aversion to color can be traced back a thousand years,
with Batchelor stating that it can be traced back to
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's privileging of line over color.
In a study, hatchling
loggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...
s 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. The
Mediterranean sand smelt, ''Atherina hepsetus'', has shown an aversion to red objects placed next to a tank while it will investigate objects of other colors. In other experiments,
geese
A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...
have been conditioned to have adverse reactions to foods of a particular color, although the reaction was not observed in reaction to colored water.
The title character in
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
's ''
Marnie'' has an aversion to the color red caused by a trauma during her childhood
which Hitchcock presents through expressionistic techniques, such as a
wash of red coloring a close up of Marnie.
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. However, the term's association with a racial component has been used by public figures such as
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
.
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 a
ghost
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
. 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. In
Paul Beatty's novel ''Slumberland'', leukophobia refers to racism.
Variations
See also
*
List of phobias
References
{{Color topics
Color
Phobias