Max Lüscher
Max Lüscher (born 9 September 1923, Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss psychotherapist. He's known for inventing the Lüscher color test, a tool for measuring the person's psychophysical state based on his or her color preferences. Besides research, teaching and practicing psychotherapy in Basel, Lüscher worked for international companies, amongst other things giving color advice. His book "The Lüscher Test" has been translated into more than 30 languages.
Biography
After passing Swiss matriculation examination Max Lüscher studied philosophy and psychology. He finished with summa cum laude for his doctoral thesis "Color as an aid in psychological diagnosis". From this base, during the course of his work as a therapist, Lüscher developed his first test for assessing (or at least estimating) the human personality by the means of certain color cards. From 1961 until 1965, Lüscher worked as a teacher and professor in Basel and Berlin. Currently he is living in Lucerne where he runs his "Institute for Medical Psychological Diagnosis". The area of prime importance to the Lüscher research is the effect of colors on humans with regard to the psychological social aspects as well as the psychology of colors and advice for industry and firms. Lüscher is internationally known through his guest lectures and seminars.
From 1959 to 1967 Max Lüscher was married to the Swiss artist Ingeborg Lüscher.
The Lüscher test colors
The test colors from the Lüscher Color-Diagnosis are selected according to the same category. Luscher argues that the subject's choice of color shows the state of their psychosomatic and emotional status and how they feel about themselves. It is further one of many well known test-diagnostic proceedings by testing children on the area of educational psychology.
Lüscher relates to his four fundamental colors to the following fundamental categories:
- Blue: Contentment[1]
- Feeling of belonging, the inner connection and the relationship to one’s partner.
- "How I feel towards a person that is close to me"
- Green: Self-respect[2]
- Inner control of willpower and the capacity to enjoy.
- "The way I want to be"
- Red: Self confidence[3]
- Activity, drive and the reaction to challenges.
- "How I react to challenges"
- Yellow: Development[4]
- Attitude of anticipation, attitude towards future development and towards new encounters.
- "What I expect for the future"
A 1984 comparison of the Lüscher color test and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory found little agreement between the two tests, prompting the authors to urge cautious use of the former.[5]
Bibliography
- Max Lüscher: „The Lüscher Colour Test", Remarkable Test That Reveals Your Personality Through Color, Pan Books, 1972, ISBN 978-0-330-02809-7
- Max Lüscher: „Color - the mother tongue of the unconscious", Capsugel N.V. (1973)
- Max Lüscher: „The 4-Color Person", Pocketbooks, Simon Schuster, 1979, ISBN 0-671-83457-6
- Max Lüscher, „Colors of Love" : Getting in Touch with Your Romantic Self, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1996, ISBN 978-0-312-14295-7
- Max Lüscher: „The Luscher Profile", Mindscape (1986), ASIN B000WY2OU8
- Max Lüscher: „Personality Signs", Warner Books, 1981, ISBN 978-0-446-81317-4
- Max Lüscher: „Der Lüscher-Test. Persönlichkeitsbeurteilung durch Farbwahl", Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1985, ISBN 3-498-03812-5
- Max Lüscher: „Das Harmoniegesetz in uns", Ullstein, 2003, ISBN 3-548-36656-2
- Max Lüscher: „Der Vier-Farben-Mensch", Ullstein, 2005, ISBN 3-548-36797-6
References
- ↑ See and hear Contentment
- ↑ See and hear Self-respect
- ↑ See and hear Self confidence
- ↑ See and hear Development
- ↑
External links
- Basics about Lüscher's Color Diagnostik - 7 languages - including English
- Max Lüscher: The logical bases of the ethical norms (Powerpoint presentation)
- Biography of Max Lüscher
- The Colour blue - musically interpreted according to Max Lüscher (example)
- Einführung in die Psychologik (Introduction to Psychologics) - (mp3) - German spoken by Prof. Max Lüscher
- Publications by and about Max Lüscher in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library