It's a Bumpy Road

Ok, So it has been suggested that I should create a test to put up on Edline... I'm not entirely sure of how to go through with that though... But it is a rather good idea...

Next on my agenda, perhaps before creating the actual test or whatever, is to start getting contacts.... So far, I fail at this.... I need a psychologist and an interior design person.... I'm horrible at finding things...

This one is short... Just me calling out for H E L P !
Anything helps really...

I'm thinking thoughts of thoughtful.... thinking... ness?

Yeah, I'm pretty much out of it... But I'm thinking again about where I'm going with this... I was thinking more about my end result, and had a little talk with Lauren. I'm ending this with a test study thing.... Now the question is... When... Where... How... And ..... I lost my thought....
And... Blah... Forget that.... But who where and how...

Is it during advisory, class, or on the weekend?
is it in school, or away from school?
Is it just students?
Or other people?

And the how...
Do I give them a test packet of colorful ness?
Do I project the color on the wall and have them tell me what they feel?
Do I do both?
Do I give them a survey?

And how on Earht do I use this information to help someone?

Feedback is much loved....

I have my purpose... But whats my process?

Purpose / Objective

· What is the focus of my project?
o The focus of my project is color and emotion, and how one affects the other

· What I hope to learn or accomplish… What my point is…
o I hope to learn if color affects emotion and why. I hope to use this information to benefit someone, and my point is…. That these things are important somehow?

· Why am I doing this project?
o Personal Interest- I had decided to do this project because I had attempted it once. Back in eighth grade, I had tried to see if different colors had a different effect on a person’s mood. In the end, that project was not a success because I did not have enough time or effort to put into it. So I would like to improve on it. I am also doing this project because I have an interest in such things, so I guess you could say I am sort of interested in Psychology.

· My Essential Question
o Does color effect emotion?

My Failed "Did You Know" facts

· Many people have tried to assign colors to each emotion in the past based on what they believed
· In Belgium, the color for boys is pink while the color for girls is blue, because blue is viewed as delicate while since pink is an off form of red, it is seen as masculine.
· Color emotion can be defined, in a simple fashion, as the relationships between color and the viewer's psychological response.
· Colors have both positive and negative qualities

Really, they don't have much to do with my project.... I think I will understand and know more amazing things when I come to interviewing somone....

But, at the end... I'm thinking my end product is the experament itself.... But everone is doing something that presents their project to others... Like with Caseys photo gallery and the poetry slam and whatever it was that Sydney was doing....

Here's what I came up with....

Essential Question: Does color effect emotion?

~ Why?
~ What colors cause what emotions?
~ What affects this?
~ Does it affect learning?
~ Does ones background affect this?
~ Is this used in designing schools or houses?
~ Is gender a factor?
~ Does color and emotion also have an effect in clothing?
~ What other scenarios are there where the color of something effects ones emotions?
~ How can this information be used to improve schools or homes containing depressed people?

and so far, for my proposal... My focus of the project is colors and emotions.

I hope to learn what kind of connection color and emotion have with the human mind, and I want to learn how to use this information to improve certain places.

This project stems from personal intrest, it was once a science project I did, but did not do well enough with. This project is personal because I wish to better my project and actually come to a conclusion that will help others, not just my grade.

Brick Wall

It's sad when I still have not completed my MLA stuff, but I still am completely clueless.... I don't believe it really helps to sit there and say "hey, I need help" because then people look at me like I'm stupid, just think I'm stupid because of how clueless I am and ignore me, or I will get yelled at...

Truth is though, I've never really gotten the whole MLA citation thing....

Also, I guess my next issue in line is the proposal... I know it's not easy, but still. I don't think my essential question fit's into my proposal, and I'm having issues trying to find a way to change it.

Today I will attempt to hand in my crappy attempt at essential and foundation questions.... but that still leaves me lost with MLA....

Soooo... I'm frustrated.... No where on MLA still...

Bottom line... I'm screwed.... I have extreme issues with MLA, I always have. It doesn't help that I find it extremely hard to find any information about the creator of the site, or when the site was published.... I don't even know if I'm looking at the right part of the citation site!!!

Unfortunately, the suggestion of looking into the properties of the website didn't help much....

On a brighter note, Shannon presented me with another good point... Explain it in lay mans terms! And test groups from 13-18 years of age... Perhaps I will also go a tad lower that 13... I'm not sure yet... I don't even know how exactly I plan on conducting this experiment. There is also an issue of how to reach all ages for my test.

Short entry today, I have to continue stressing over MLA and trying my hardest not to fail this class....

I am Shannon's best friend (hah)

Ok, let me start off by saying, that I said last time, that If someone gave me feedback, I might decide to be their best friend.... So now I'm Shannon's best friend, because she left me some pretty helpful feedback. For those who are too lazy to look at her feedback and navigate away from this entry for even a minute,

"What about something along the lines of 'Does color and emotion have a link
within the human mind?' Or something along that.. that way you can explore
diffrent options of how color does effect people if it does so maybe not only in
emotion but how they wear it.. idk.. something like that..

and I ♥ ur eye on the bottom of the page.."

So, I believe she has a good point with that... In order to figure out the whats and the hows, I would first need to confirm if there is a link between colors and emotions... Thank you Shannon!... My only problem, is that I think that has already been proven... Perhaps I am mearly re-visiting it and using different test groups? Most of what I have found on previous experiments involves college students only....

Secondly... I would like to state an opinion... WEBSITES SHOULD INCLUDE THEIR OWN MLA CITATION IN THEIR SITE IF THEY WANT TO BE GIVEN CREDIT FOR THEIR INFORMATION!!!!! I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure out Authors, titles, and other information that helps me find out who the heck I'm giving credit to... Websites don't include that sort of information, therefore they don't deserve credit... But If you can't credit a website, the information is useless due to lack of proof....

So therefore... This sucks... (Pardon my saying 'this sucks' and 'heck' but that's how frustrated I am, and I actually want to use harsher, more vulgar words....)

What I'm finding to be particularly sad though, is that I'm finding some fantastic sites.... BUT NO WAY TO PROVE IT'S EVEN A SITE DUE TO IT'S LACK OF MLA CITATION!!! This is why I always fail... This is why I always give up...

So, this post was mainly to thank Shannon (And Casey for her previous feedback) and say that I have found some more links, but am having problems with MLA... I'm always having problems with MLA, but this is due tomorrow, and I have nothing... So, as you can imagine, Kristen is not a very happy camper right now. It just rained all over my camp and firewood, so I can't make smores... Yeah, don't ask... That's what happens when I get stressed and feel like typing...

So, I'm going to stop now before I distract myself even more... I'll give you $5 if you do my MLA citation!!! (I'm just joking, Ms. S would kill me.... And I would fail.... And that wouldn't be good....) Really though, comments and suggestions are always welcomed. You might get a spiffy blog dedicated to you comment and how you've helped me... And I might just be your best friend!

((On ONE LAST note... The spell check claims that "smores" isn't a word.... How on Earth is that not a word... It's only one of the most delicious things in the world! Aside from jelly beans...))

It's a start...

HAH! One month of doing this project, and I only now seem to be getting a semi decent foot hold on it. Anyways, I have completed my collage, not sure if it's good enough... I was thinking about changing it some, but it is at the bottom of my blog, for I am unsure how to place it otherwise.

So... You should look at it and tell me what you think... (I feel like I'm talking to an invisible audience, people haven't read my blog in a while, I'm not sure if they are following anymore)

And I'm back to the issue of my root question, so right now I'm stuck in a dark void.... I thought I had something simple with just "Does color effect emotion?" because from there I can determine how color effects emotion, what colors cause what emotions, what colors are better for learning.... So I would assume that starting out with a vague question might just be my best bet....

You should give me feedback on my question too. . . If you do... I will be your best friend.... Maybe....

Everyone keeps telling me I've got a good project going here for me.... Perhaps I'm just horrible at focusing and creating a project... I already know that I'm horrible with deadlines. I'm amazed that this entry isn't that long.

Wonderful...

Due to my large lack of inspiration, thought process, attention span, and... Well, I don't know what else... I am greatly behind. I can't seem to focus enough to think solidly on one thing. Right now I'm fighting with myself because I did not do the photo shop assignment. It's not an easy thing to do, and at first I didn't know that we had to do it. So I'm a mess right now.

I've been spending my class time over thinking, over analysing, and overly multi tasking. I was looking for things on my collage, thinking about an essential question, wondering how I'm going to conduct this project, whats going to be on my webibliography and in all of this.... I lost track of my deadlines....

I had gathered a good idea from my therapist though... She suggested using a projector to project the color onto the wall. So that might be a problem solved.... I guess I would then start by asking them if the color has affected their mood, and then I would continue asking various questions...

Either way, I'm still lost...

I was trying to avoid this....

And yet here I am, about to launch into a full fledged rant about color. Hah. But really though...
Green is normally the color of envy, associated with money... That's a given. I'm always hearing about the green eyed monster...

And, if you ask me, red is normally used to portray anger. In many cases though I have discovered that people find it as giving off a sense of power or seduction....
In thinking about this, I also realise that in a way red was once used to portray innocents as well. The story of Little Red Riding Hood.... She had a red hood....
Red is also the color of blood, blood is life... And spilling blood is not a very pleasant thing... So I would imagine that some would not like to see the color red for that reason....

Then there is pink. The color of new born baby girls (And in some countries it is actually for boys!) now, how can a color associated with that also be associated with breast cancer??? What do people think of first when they see pink? Life or death?

Also, there is still conflict on whether black is the absence of color or the presence of all color.... Art thinks of it as the presence of all color, but life tends to think of it as absent... Which kind of makes sense, because if you hold a prism under light, you get a rainbow.... does that then mean that white is the presence of all color?

Personally, the color white drives me crazy... Right now this room is driving me a little crazy, which may very well be why I've finally sunk down to ranting my own opinions about this project....
Anyways, I know people who find white rooms calming, and shy away from darker rooms that I would probably find more comfort in.

Argh!!!! My mind is swimming with all of this, along with all of the things my mind was originally swimming with!!! And now, thanks to thinking about pigeons and their color presence, I'm wondering again if animals like dogs and cats are color blind!!! And that has nothing to do with my project, but I can't help but think about it!!!!

AND I'M STILL NO WHERE WITH MY COLLAGE!!!!!!!!! I'm running around in circles because of that! Like, REALLY!!!! I didn't think it would be this complicated, but for some reason I just can't get it... Perhaps it is because my mind is so overloaded it's pathetic... I mean, this is my THIRD entry today, and like the resst it mainly contains my ranting and running around in circles....

Apparently Pigeons have a color preference.....

So, in looking up this color stimuli thing.... I stumbled upon some article about pigeons color preference..... I'm not entirely sure how this may help me, and I haven't entirely gotten to a point where I understand what it is trying to say yet..... But I figured I would place it into a post so that I don't entirely lose it, and perhaps someone else can help me find out if it's useful if I leave it here for others to view....

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1338812

Am I lost or am I found?

Well, I followed Shannon's suggestion and looked up "Color Stimuli" on Carnegie library's homepage, so I might need to take a trip to the library... But, I also made it a point to look up color stimuli on Google.... It doesn't seem to be extremely helpful, but I have been able to take a slight understanding of it.... Maybe...

It has a lot to do with light scattering... The concept of Color Stimuli that is... I think...

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=27D256364D8910804B0FA8EF3F3DD7ED.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=469291

I guess I was just thinking that, this information might be just what I need in order to start viewing this project more technically....

Then again, I'm still over thinking about thinking about this project and over thinking what is not so necessary to be thinking about....

Yeah, I have realized that I am making little to no sense.... But... I've been thinking (obviously)... Anyways, I don't think it's entirely possible to figure out why color would effect emotion.... Perhaps I am looking for how many ways color can effect emotions? Or how many emotions a color can perceive? Maybe it's how color effects humans in general?

No... Those are all to big... But in all honesty, that seems to be what I want to do.... I want to take all of this information in somehow, and find ways to make it useful.....

Yeah, I do have some issues.... Ok, I have a lot of issues.....
I should know what I'm doing by now.... But I don't.... And thats really really sad.... I'm sorry....

I should have this by now...

OK, so I'm still sort of lost on my essential question... Which I should have by now.... It shouldn't be this hard for me should it? I would assume my question is simply "Does color affect emotion" rather than complicating it any more than it needs to be... But it is sort of complicated already and therefore needs to be simplified... Or something like that. I think.... Perhaps I'm over thinking, or maybe I just think I'm over thinking....

Either way... I should really have all of this done by now... But my brain is way too fried... I'm also still over stressing on my collage... Like, I can have a million pictures of different colors, but how could I relate emotion into it without it looking too weird?

Anyways.... Will's suggestion was::

"How will the colors of the surrounding environment affect a person?"

But, I think that's over complicating it... Again... Besides, I'm not sure if I can focus on this project as color vs emotion in a persons environment.... Ms. Savido suggested I give people a test... That seems a bit easier to manage rather than putting someone in a room surrounded by color....

So right now I'm going even crazier because I'm thinking of how to make an essential question that is narrowed down yet not overly complicated... And in this process I am making no sense whatsoever. AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Ow... Brain.... Hurts....

Self explanatory... my brain hurts. I can't figure out for the life of me how I'm going to do the photo shop thing for this.... And I'm racking my brain trying to think of this, and about color, and about... everything....

As if I didn't have enough thoughts threatening to crush me at the moment...

But basically.... I'm failing epically at this... feel free to laugh...

I stumbled upon some pictures that people photo shopped... And I found it pretty interesting.... If you change the color of something, your outlook on it can change... Or without color in the object, it's purpose would change....

Currant Frustration

And I'm now over stressing about the collage... Colors and emotions.... Argh.... I still don't have an essential question either. I'm lost.

Who, What, Where, When, Why

ok, So right now, I'm still throwing questions around in my head. That, and I'm thinking about my collage now....
Anyways, so far... I'm running around in circles again. So far... I'm like.... AAARRRGGGGHHHH.....

My project is about color and emotion..... I have that much, right? Now I need an essential question..... What is my essential question? Is it "Does color effect emotion" or "How does color effect emotion" ? I'm not sure it would be either of those really.... This is a large topic.... So I'm like.... Lost again..... Really lost....

I could look at it from a learning aspect... "How does the color of a learning environment effect the learning of students?" That sounds good..... It's not what I want though.....

That's my problem.... This has so many possibilities.... And I can't explore all of them.... Then again, I can't seem to form this project into any essential question formats that I have been given....

It's to late to change my mind about my project now though, and right now I'm also pretty sure that there is nothing I would like to change my project to....

I suppose things could be worse.... I mean, at least I've started to focus somewhat Unfortunately though, I still seem to be floating in that dark void when it all boils down to certain things. Then again, who isn't having SOME sort of issue with their grad project? We will all stumble a bit I suppose... But I'm the type of person who easily gives up, and it doesn't take long for these problems to drive me absolutely bonkers....