Do we all see the same color?

1. 59

   TravelMonkeyposted 15 years ago

   Is it physically possible that when one person looks at a green apple, they see the apple as blue but call the apple green due to being taught that way as a child - do we all see the colour green or any colour as the same thing?

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      Davinagirl3posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Believe it or not, I use to ponder this very question.  I guess the world will never know.  Maybe, the proof that we all see the same colors is with those who are color blind.

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2. 71

   brad4lposted 15 years ago

   I think in the case of those who are color blind, colors are often learned in this manner, where even though to them the apple is brown, they can tell that it is "green" and not red.

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3. 83

   kerrygposted 15 years ago

   I've often wondered the same thing. It might account for some people's taste.

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4. 59

   TravelMonkeyposted 15 years ago

   That might be the reason why some people have good taste

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5. 59

   seemorebangkokposted 15 years ago

   I would say we see different hues and shades of the same colors but essentialy blue is blue.
   
   However, it could happen that a teacher or whoever would teach a child that a green apple is really blue, but it's unlikely.

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6. 48

   inet4moneyposted 14 years ago

   Great question. I often wondered that and anyone I ask say "of course we see the same thing". I am not 100% sure we do. I agree we could teach kids at early ages that "blue" is "brown" and vise versa. But boy, that would mess up some kids heads. The next question is, how can we tell if we see the same thing or not?

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7. 67

   blondepoetposted 14 years ago

   My friend who is colour blind actually got sacked from picking tomatoes, he gets reds and greens esp muddled up, he was told to pick the tomatoes when red but he was plucking the greens. I will never forget the day he picked up a brown venemous snake and he was waving it around, he thought it was a green tree snake, oh boy, I ran away a million miles an hour ROFL>

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      sandra rinckposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      did anyone tell him?

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         blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Yes lol I told him before I ran for cover.....

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8. 63

   BristolBoyposted 14 years ago

   This is a problem I have often thought about.  The colour I see as red you may see as brown, but we all call it blue because that is the way we were brought up (that make sense?).  Guess it is one of those philosophical questions which would make a good research project, although how you would test it I have no idea!

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      Davinagirl3posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Test the color blind. I have a feeling therein lies the key.

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9. 0

   annvansposted 14 years ago

   I am forever telling people in my family who claim to be color blind that they aren't.  They probably are, but they will say something is purple when it is grey.  Sometimes there is a grey that looks purple in a sense.  I keep telling them they just don't know how to tell colors rather than being color blind. 
   
   There are blacks that have a green hue base color and they will say that it is green.  I guess in a sense it is, but they only seem to see a base in it, not the actual color.

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10. 81

    maggs224posted 14 years ago

    I have often thought about this and I don't know how we could test this. As long as we call the colour by the name assigned to it when we learnt our colours then even if six people were seeing different things but always called that colour by the name assigned to it then it would seem logical to assume that we are all seeing the same colour but of course that is not necessarily so is it. All we are doing is consistently calling that colour by the same name which does not show what we see but only what we call what we see. Boy all this thinking makes your head ache lol

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11. 63

    Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

    Years ago ABC News did a program on how drug and alcohol use can affect people.  They said how after some length of time people can start viewing the world in a kind of gray-looking tone, rather than in vivid colors.  They showed an example by dulling the colors of the image viewers were seeing.
    
    Maybe (assuming what the ABC program presented was accurate) brain-cell loss from substance abuse isn't the only thing that can contribute to differences in how vividly colors are viewed by people.

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