1
00:00:00,620 --> 00:00:05,609
Prisons come in a rainbow of colors, like
gray, dark gray, and… this other shade of

2
00:00:05,609 --> 00:00:06,609
gray.

3
00:00:06,609 --> 00:00:07,609
But sometimes…

4
00:00:07,609 --> 00:00:08,609
they come in pink.

5
00:00:08,609 --> 00:00:14,059
And not just any pink; specifically, this
exact shade of pink: Baker-Miller pink.

6
00:00:14,059 --> 00:00:15,059
Why?

7
00:00:15,059 --> 00:00:19,700
Well, it has to do with the very messy history
of color psychology.

8
00:00:19,700 --> 00:00:24,630
This story begins in the 1940s with this guy:
Swiss psychologist, Max Lüscher.

9
00:00:24,630 --> 00:00:28,350
You see, Lüscher had basically invented the
world’s first Buzzfeed quiz, which could

10
00:00:28,350 --> 00:00:32,660
allegedly determine someone’s psychosomatic
state and even measure certain hormones using

11
00:00:32,660 --> 00:00:34,540
just their favorite colors.

12
00:00:34,540 --> 00:00:38,570
Participants would rank these 8 colors in
terms of personal preference and then be grouped

13
00:00:38,570 --> 00:00:41,960
into a particular personality category based
on their choices.

14
00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,289
You can actually still take this test online
if you’re having some kind of identity crisis;

15
00:00:45,289 --> 00:00:47,219
it told me I was a total Miranda.

16
00:00:47,219 --> 00:00:51,390
But—as you might’ve already guessed—this
is just complete pseudoscience, and a good

17
00:00:51,390 --> 00:00:55,760
example of the Barnum effect; basically, people
will accept any vague description of their

18
00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,190
personality as being true because people are
complex… and also not very smart.

19
00:01:00,190 --> 00:01:05,260
But, many years later, a Tacoma-based psychologist
named Alexander Schauss read up on the Lüscher

20
00:01:05,260 --> 00:01:09,610
test and had an idea: maybe instead of our
hormones and emotions changing our perception

21
00:01:09,610 --> 00:01:13,410
of colors, our perception of colors could
change our hormones and emotions.

22
00:01:13,410 --> 00:01:17,610
So, Schauss started doing what I do at the
Museum of Modern Art: looking at random colors

23
00:01:17,610 --> 00:01:19,130
to see if he felt anything.

24
00:01:19,130 --> 00:01:23,070
And sure enough, it turned out that the colors
seemed to have an effect on his cardiovascular

25
00:01:23,070 --> 00:01:26,230
system; some would raise his heart rate, and
others would lower it.

26
00:01:26,230 --> 00:01:31,530
But one color in particular stood out; after
mixing one gallon of pure white indoor latex

27
00:01:31,530 --> 00:01:36,380
paint with one pint of red trim semi-gloss
outdoor paint, he got this color, and looking

28
00:01:36,380 --> 00:01:39,530
at it lowered his heart rate so much that
he became physically weak.

29
00:01:39,530 --> 00:01:43,450
But seeing as he might just be a really crummy
superhero whose superpower is looking at colors

30
00:01:43,450 --> 00:01:48,400
and whose kryptonite is this exact shade of
pink, he decided to show it to 153 other people.

31
00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,820
153 men, specifically, because women hadn’t
been invented yet.

32
00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:55,690
It turns out, he wasn’t alone: after showing
these men the color for a minute and then

33
00:01:55,690 --> 00:01:59,760
testing their grip strength, he found that
they were up to 23% weaker than they were

34
00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:01,320
after they looked at blue.

35
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:05,570
Now, there were some problems with this experiment,
but we’re going to put those in our “problems

36
00:02:05,570 --> 00:02:07,840
to deal with later” box and deal with them
later.

37
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,400
For now, all you need to know is that this
experiment happened and the US government

38
00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:12,980
wanted to find a use for it.

39
00:02:12,980 --> 00:02:16,030
Admittedly, it was the same year that they
were trying to find a use for actual magic,

40
00:02:16,030 --> 00:02:18,030
so this wasn’t exactly a high bar.

41
00:02:18,030 --> 00:02:23,189
But, in 1979, two directors of a Naval correctional
institute in Seattle named Gene Baker and

42
00:02:23,189 --> 00:02:27,489
Ron Miller—hence the eventual name Baker-Miller
pink—decided to paint two cells top to bottom

43
00:02:27,489 --> 00:02:29,799
with the color to see if it would reduce aggression.

44
00:02:29,799 --> 00:02:35,090
And, unlike the magic, it worked like magic:
the facility reported a significant reduction

45
00:02:35,090 --> 00:02:39,730
in violent or hostile behavior after just
15 minutes of exposure to the pink clink.

46
00:02:39,730 --> 00:02:43,840
Now, seeing as a fresh coat of hypnotic paint
was a lot easier than, like, actually making

47
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,510
real changes, Baker-Miller pink started popping
up everywhere.

48
00:02:47,510 --> 00:02:52,030
Other jails started using it, but so did psychiatric
hospitals, youth clinics, and even locker

49
00:02:52,030 --> 00:02:56,120
rooms—the football teams at Iowa and Colorado
State actually painted their opposing team’s

50
00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,890
locker room Baker-Miller pink in the early
1980s, which is why, to this day, the WAC

51
00:03:00,890 --> 00:03:05,099
has a rule that both teams’ locker rooms
must be painted the same color.

52
00:03:05,099 --> 00:03:09,219
Baker-Miller pink became especially popular
across the pond, if by “pond” you mean

53
00:03:09,219 --> 00:03:11,590
everything between the United States and Switzerland.

54
00:03:11,590 --> 00:03:15,970
The Swiss penal system has used a slightly
diluted version of Baker-Miller pink in 30

55
00:03:15,970 --> 00:03:20,330
cells across ten of their prisons, and in
several more drunk tanks in their police stations.

56
00:03:20,330 --> 00:03:25,120
But—uh oh—it’s time to open our “problems
to deal with later” box, because now it’s

57
00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:26,120
later.

58
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,400
Let’s go ahead and read our problem: it
says, “Alexander Schauss isn’t very good

59
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:30,400
at his job.”

60
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:35,370
Well, it turns out, Schauss’s heart-rate
hypothesis might not be airtight.

61
00:03:35,370 --> 00:03:38,010
A lot of people have tested it since, and
there have been mixed results.

62
00:03:38,010 --> 00:03:42,669
Some, like this study, seemed to agree that
it could lower blood pressure.

63
00:03:42,669 --> 00:03:45,779
Others, like this study, failed to replicate
the results.

64
00:03:45,779 --> 00:03:49,439
And one just found something completely out
of left field, which is that it acted as an

65
00:03:49,439 --> 00:03:51,010
appetite suppressant.

66
00:03:51,010 --> 00:03:53,410
Fun fact: that’s why Kendall Jenner’s
house is that color.

67
00:03:53,410 --> 00:03:55,349
Who needs calories when you have pink?

68
00:03:55,349 --> 00:03:59,480
So, whether or not Baker-Miller pink literally
lowers your heart rate is a bit of an open

69
00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:03,900
question, but the fact of the matter is: it
definitely seems to do… something.

70
00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:08,099
The Naval correctional institute did see a
drop in violence, the Swiss prisons have reported

71
00:04:08,099 --> 00:04:12,409
more relaxed inmates, and Kendall Jenner does
have a bangin’ beach bod year-round.

72
00:04:12,409 --> 00:04:16,790
But if it’s not an automatic biological
reaction, then what is it?

73
00:04:16,790 --> 00:04:20,389
Well, some researchers have speculated that
there’s a cultural element at play here

74
00:04:20,389 --> 00:04:24,170
as well—since the color has mostly been
tested on men, and this shade of pink is particularly

75
00:04:24,170 --> 00:04:28,169
effeminate, it may be the case that seeing
pink calms men down the same way listening

76
00:04:28,169 --> 00:04:29,169
to Pink!

77
00:04:29,169 --> 00:04:31,379
does: by bringing out their inner femininity.

78
00:04:31,379 --> 00:04:35,539
And really, that’s how a lot of color psychology
works—it depends on culture.

79
00:04:35,539 --> 00:04:39,250
When Disney decided to bring Disneyland to
Europe, they also brought along a heavily

80
00:04:39,250 --> 00:04:43,460
purple color-scheme; in the United States,
purple is often associated with magic and

81
00:04:43,460 --> 00:04:47,900
royalty, but—and this may shock some of
my viewers—the whole world is not the United

82
00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:48,900
States.

83
00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:52,920
In predominantly-Catholic France, this purple
color scheme wasn’t perceived as magical,

84
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,870
but rather as incredibly drab and depressing,
since they associated purple with crucifixion

85
00:04:57,870 --> 00:04:58,870
and death.

86
00:04:58,870 --> 00:05:02,540
If these Baker-Miller pink tests were conducted
before World War II, when pink was seen as

87
00:05:02,540 --> 00:05:06,449
more masculine and energizing, they might’ve
not turned out so peacefully.

88
00:05:06,449 --> 00:05:08,449
So, what’s the lesson here?

89
00:05:08,449 --> 00:05:10,970
Is the lesson that we’re stupid for painting
our jails pink?

90
00:05:10,970 --> 00:05:13,699
Is the lesson that culture has more of a grip
on our psychology than we thought?

91
00:05:13,699 --> 00:05:14,810
I don’t know.

92
00:05:14,810 --> 00:05:15,810
Life is complicated.

93
00:05:15,810 --> 00:05:19,470
But life can be a little less complicated
if you understand the basics of logic—one

94
00:05:19,470 --> 00:05:23,590
of the most popular courses offered by our
sponsor, Brilliant.

95
00:05:23,590 --> 00:05:27,979
Brilliant is an online STEM-learning platform
that’s easy and—more importantly—fun

96
00:05:27,979 --> 00:05:28,979
to use.

97
00:05:28,979 --> 00:05:33,360
On Brilliant, you’re not just bogged down
by endless lectures; you learn with hands-on,

98
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:34,639
interactive lessons.

99
00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:38,980
With their logic course, you can learn fundamental
real-world skills like truth-seeking and strategic

100
00:05:38,980 --> 00:05:42,781
ordering with fun puzzles like this one, where
you have to sit robots on an airplane in a

101
00:05:42,781 --> 00:05:45,069
particular order to stop them from killing
each other!

102
00:05:45,069 --> 00:05:48,290
If you’re worried about wasting time on
the internet doing useless things like watching

103
00:05:48,290 --> 00:05:52,140
Half as Interesting videos, Brilliant is a
great way to put an end to that—you can

104
00:05:52,140 --> 00:05:56,620
walk away from your computer with a new skill
in math, biology, computer science, or one

105
00:05:56,620 --> 00:05:58,389
of their many other courses.

106
00:05:58,389 --> 00:06:02,729
Best of all, you can join this community of
8 million other learners with 20% off an annual

107
00:06:02,729 --> 00:06:06,189
subscription by being one of the first 200
to sign up at brilliant.org/HAI.