Nervous suspects locked up in Britain's newest police station may feel relieved by a pleasant yellow color on the door. If they are close to confessing a crime, the blue on the wall might tip the balance.
Gwent Police have abandoned colors such as grays and browns of the 20th-century police cell and have used color psychology to decorate them.
Ystrad Mynach station, which recently opened at a cost of E5 million，has four cells with glass doors for prisoners who suffer from claustrophobia（幽闭恐怖症）. Designers have painted the frames yellow, which researchers say is a calming color. Other cells contain a royal blue line because psychologists believe that the color is likely to encourage truthfulness.
The station has 31 cells, including 12 with a “live scan” system for drunken or disturbed prisoners which detects the rise and fall of their chest. An alarm alerts officers if a prisoner's breathing stops and carries on ringing until the door is opened.
Designers and psychologists have worked for years on color. Blue is said to suggest trust, efficiency, duty, logic, coolness, thinking and calm. It also suggests coldness and unfriendliness. It is thought that strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft colors will calm the mind and aid concentration.
Yellow is linked with confidence, self-respect and friendliness. Get the color wrong and it could cause fear, depression and anxiety, but the right yellow can lift spirits and self-respect.
Ingrid Collins, a psychologist who specializes in the effects of color，said that color was an “energy force”,. She said: “Blue does enhance communication but I am not sure it would enhance truthful communication.”
Yellow, she said, affected the mind. Red, on the other hand, should never be considered because it could increase aggression. Mrs. Collins praised the designers for using colors in the cells. Gwent is notthe first British force to experiment with color to calm down or persuade prisoners to co-operate. In the 1990s Strathclyde Police used pink in cells based on research carried out by the US Navy.
【小题1】What does the underlined phrase “tip the balance” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Let suspects keep their balance. | B．Help suspects to confess their crimes. |
| C．Make suspects deny their guilts. | D．Enhance communication among prisoners. |
| A．Pink | B．Yellow |
| C．Blue | D．Red |
| A．Scanning equipment. | B．Royal blue lines. |
| C．Glass doors. | D．Yellow frames. |
| A．Colors take lead in communication. |
| B．First British police cell to experiment with color. |
| C．Colors in cells affect criminals' psychology. |
| D．Color psychology helps reform criminals. |
