•• A The effect of colour

1 Read the following sentences. They each summarise one of the

paragraphs in the text The pink police station. What do you think
each paragraph will say?
a Choose an appropriate colour whatever you're doing.
b Choosing room colours is important.
c Colour and the nervous system.
d Colour preferences reveal personality.
e Good colour choices match eye colour.
Read the text. Match the summaries with the correct paragraphs.

2 Read The pink police station again and then tick the best answers.
a The energy of a particular colour:
1 makes us feel fed up.
2 attracts us to the colour.
3 always expands our cells.
b People are attracted to colour therapy because:
1 they are disillusioned with their lives.
2 they've lost confidence in normal doctors.
3 their doctors say colour is good for them.
c Max Luscher's test:
1 is now only used by psychologists in Switzerland.
2 reveals the sequence in which governments use
the Internet.
3 is designed to show what kind of a person you are.
d Interior designers make mistakes because they:
1 don't consider what kind of people they are designing
for.
2 understand why they should paint dining rooms blue.
3 are convinced by the theory that pink calms people
down.
e The best clothes colours:
1 are hazel and green if your eyes are blue. ]
2 go with the colour of the wearer's eyes. 1
3 are shades of red that the wearer likes. [ ]
~
 UNIT 7: A 45

If colour is energy. is blue right for

the dining room?
Now here's a theory: you and I are energy. We
are colour. When we're feeling fed up and run-
down, this may mean that we have too much or
too little colour in us. Each of us is inadvertently
attracted to one colour more than others, and
the reason for this is that colours have energy in
them, and that is what draws us to them. Every
K837EHV
colour affects our cell structures, sending very
fine chemical vibrations on to our nervous Britain was so convinced by theories of colour
system, which via the pituitary gland directs our that they painted their cells pink - a nurturing,
body. For instance, blue light makes our cells romantic colour - to try and stop their
expand but red light makes them contract. Each temporary guests feeling aggressive.
colour in the spectrum, in other words, has its
own special effect on us and as we absorb its 4 According to fashion expert 'Annie', a
energy it travels via the nervous system to the columnist for Britain's Observer newspaper,
part of the body that needs it. And so, as people certain colours suit people better than others,
look for alternatives to mainstream conventional and so care should be taken when selecting
medicine, which they think is unsatisfactory, and clothes. There's nothing new about that of
seek new ways of making themselves well, they - course. People with good dress sense have
we - have turned to colour therapy as a new always worried about what to wear, and
way of chilling out, a way of restoring our colours go in and out of fashion. But Annie
individual states of optimum well-being and goes further than this. She suggests that the
restoring an appropriate physical and mental best colours are those that complement or
balance. reflect the wearer's eye colour. If you have
hazel eyes, for example, certain shades of
2 Vou think that sounds too extreme? Well, green are just right. However, in what seems
according to the Swiss psychologist Max Luscher, like a contradictory point of view, she is
colour and personality are so closely linked that adamant that people should be allowed to
he developed a test to reveal character traits by wear whatever colours they feel good about,
the sequence in which a subject chooses colours. even if they are not appropriate: 'I know
The test is now used by psychologists and people who don't really suit red, for example;
governments across the world - and a version of she wrote in a recent column, 'yet derive
it even appears on the Internet for anyone to enormous pleasure from wearing it, and who
use. has the right to tell them otherwise?' Well, no
one has the right, but perhaps it would be
3 Top colour therapist Angela Wright agrees that kind!
colour elicits a strong psychological response -
which is why the appearance of rooms in a 5 So there it is. Colour counts, and it's important
house is so vital to its inhabitants' well-being. for all of us. If the kitchen needs repainting, or
'The biggest mistake interior designers make is if you're thinking of having the living room
not to take into account the personality of the done; if you feel like having your hair dyed or
client whose home they are decorating and the you just want to go out and spend money on
activity associated with a particular room; she clothes, work out what colour suits your
says. For instance, if you painted your dining personality and your looks best: learn which
room blue, then, says Wright, 'you'd have very ones will affect your nervous system and how
boring dinner parties because that colour is they will do this. Take colour seriously and it
calming. As a result, everyone would be on their will improve your life - and make you feel
best behaviour: One police force in southern good about it too.
 46 LJNIT 7: A

3 Which of the words highlighted in blue in the text on page 45 means the following?
a get ..
b gets someth ing from someone ..
c look good with.
d looking after, caring for ...
e ordinary ....
f relaxing complerely .
g small shaking movements.
h the opposite of expand
very sure ..
without meaning to .

Language in chunks
4 What do the following phrases from the text The pink police station mean?
a has irs own special effect on us (paragraph 1)

b seek new ways of (paragraph 1)

c elicits a strong psychological response (paragraph 3)

cl on their best behaviour (paragraph 3)

e has rhe right to (paragraph 4)

5 Re-write the following sentences using the phrases in blue.

a I don't like brilliant sunshine. has a bad effect

b Interior designers want to combine colours. seeking new ways of

c The colour red seems to make bulls react. elicits a strong psychological response

d When their grandmother comes to tea, the children are always good. on their best behaviour

e No one can order me about. I'm a free agent. has the right to
 UNIT 7: B 47

.B Six thinking hats

Edward de Bono is regarded as the leading international authority
in conceptual and creative rhinking and in the teaching of thinking
as a skill. He originated the term 'lateral thinking', which now has
an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, and is well known for
the deliberate creative rechniques associated with it and for the
powerful 'six thinking hats' method.

1 a Do you know this man and anything about why he is famous?

Read the introduction and find out.

b What types of meetings do you attend? (For example: work,

family, friends, clubs, class I school.) Make notes about some of
the problems that happen at meetings.

2 Read the first part of the following passage qUickly and answer
these questions.
a What do the six hats represent?

b Why do people use the technique?

 48 UNIT 7: B

MAKING Below is a summary of the different 'hats', what they signify and
how the technique can be used. It is important that everyone in the
DISCUSSIONS AND group is thinking with the same hat at the same time. Imagine you are
MEETINGS MORE in a group trying to decide where to go on vacation together - here's
EFFECTIVE how the six hats can help you.
When the group is thinking about facts and information, this is
Do you find meetings boring?
'white hat thinking' Here, you would think about how much money
Here's a technique that may help and time you have available, for example.
you The red hat covers intuition, feelings and emotions. It allows the
In the 1980s, Dr Edward de Bono, thinker to put forward an intuition without any need to justify it.
a world-famous professor from 'putting on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal.' Feelings
Malta, invented a technique for and intuition can only be introduced into a discussion if they are
group problem-solving called the supported by logic. Usually the feeling is genuine but the logic is
spurious. The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put forward
'six thinking hats'. Many large
his or her feelings on the subject at the moment. Red hat thinking is
companies around the world,
about emotions, thoughts and feelings. When the group puts on this
including IBM, Federal Express, hat, they respond to ideas emotionally, not logically. Here, people
British Airways and pepsiCo, have would discuss how they feef about the different places proposed.
used this method to help them. The logical thinking hat, which calls for caution and careful analysis,
But it would be just as useful for a is the black hat. This is the hat of judgement and caution. It is a most
school meeting or any other kind valuable hat. It is not in any sense an inferior or negative hat. The
of group session. black hat is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts,
the available experience, the system in use, or the policy that is being
The idea is that the whole group
followed. The black hat must always be logical. If someone suggests
wears six different 'hats' when
staying in a luxury hotel and there is not enough money, when you are
considering a probiem Each of wearing the black hat, you can discuss this. This is the logical positive
these hats is given a different hat and is used when discussing Why something will work and why it
colour and represents a different will offer benefits. It can be used in looking forward to the results of
way of talking and thinking about some proposed action, but can also be used to find something of
something. value in what has already happened.
The yellow thinking hat is the voice of positive reason The group is
There are three main reasons to
looking for the benefits of suggestions and proposals. This is when the
use this technique.
group would look at the advantages of the different places suggested.
The green hat is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, things
• It focuses on the topic or that are interesting and exciting changes. Creativity is called for when
problem, not on individual the group is wearing the green hat. Here, people would generate ideas
people. for different places to go, combining ideas and thinking creatively
• It allows people to look at the The blue hat is the 'overview' or process control hat. It looks not at
problem in many different the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject. 'putting on my
ways. blue hat, I feel we should do some more green hat thinking at
• It allows people to all think this point.' In technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with
effectively about a problem at metacognition The blue hat is the hat that makes an evaluation of the
the same time. whole process of thinking. For example, if all the suggestions are in
other countries and not everyone has a passport, someone might say,
3 Can you predict what the six 'We need some more black hat thinking here'. If there is only one
different ways of thinking about suggestion, you may need more green hat thinking.
a problem might be? Would you like your meetings and decision-making to be more
creative, more positive and more logical? Would you like to have the
opportunity to express your emotions without worrying? Why not give
the 'six hats' idea of Edward de Bono a try? At the very least, it should
make your meetings more fun!
 UNIT 7: B 49

4 Read the second part of the text (starting 'Below is a summary .. .'). Complete the table about the six
thinking hats.

Colour of hat What are you thinking about when you wear this hat?

5 Can you guess the meaning from the context? Match these words from the text with their definitions.
a intuition 1 careful consideration of dangers.
b SpUriOUS 2 knowledge of how you think.
C caution 3 false, not real.
d logical 4 broad, comprehensive investigation . .
e policy 5 using rational thinking .
f overview 6 plan or system of action
g inferior 7 something you feel to be true, without knowing why .
h metacognition 8 not as good as others.