Do people see different colors than other people????

Question

For an example. The book is green. I might see it as yellow but call it green. My friend might sees it as orange, but calls it green. Could it be that we see different colors but refer to them as a name we all know.

Let me rephrase" Lets say I have a white laptop. I see it white. But, My friend probably sees it blue but calls it white. My other friend maybe sees it green but calls it white. My dad maybe sees it orange but calls it white. As you can see, maybe we all see different colors maybe but we name it with the same name

It has nothing to do with color blind. this may not be a fact. I just want to know if it is true or not

Answer 1

The human eye has a pallet of about 9000 colours. Some people can not see certain shades or tones of colours. As for your question it is TRUE. There are people who do not understand certain colours and ONLY by training can say. “That is green because I know grass is suppose to be green” Even though they may look at an Orange and see the same colour. The only way they know about different colours is because of physical object orientation. Which means they learn by other people what colours objects really are. This is basically called colour blindness even in mild forms.

As I stated above many blues, reds, yellows, etc.. are only seen as the next shade of the same color to some humans.

Answer 2

No that is not possible. When you learn about the color spectrum and the way colors interact together, they wouldn't make sense if they could be all jumbled up.

For example, Red and Yellow make Orange. If you saw "Red" as "Purple" and you saw "Yellow" as "Brown", and you saw "Orange" as "White", then how would your version of the color spectrum work? Purple and Brown make White?

What you're asking is if we see colors arbitrarily (with no rhyme or reason). This could not be.

Another example: Camouflage.
Hunters wear orange hats with their camouflage outfits because it helps them stand out to other humans (because deer are colorblind). Because the greens and browns and yellows of the outfit all blend into the woods, an orange hat will stand out. Well, if your eyes saw that orange hat as being green and the green as yellow and the yellow as black, well then you'd blend right in.

Now, we can see different shades of colors, for example a yellow might look brighter to me than it does to somebody else, but the physical property of the hue itself could not be seen differently by somebody else.

UPDATE:
What all the other answers here are talking about is, like you said in your update, colorblindness. I know that's not what you're talking about, because I used to wonder the same thing about colors and it had nothing to do with a family member who couldn't tell the difference between reds and greens (a colorblind condition). I know you mean that we simply may see the same object as a completely different color as somebody else and not know it (my "Green" is somebody else's "Orange").

And no, it can't happen.

Answer 3

Ashraf,

I totally understand what you are saying ........ the same thing struck my mind ..... about 8 years ago and i have been thinking about it since then....... i think it is quite possible that the way i may see a colour and call a name to it ...say white... another person maybe be seeing a different colour and calling it white...... as i do not know and cannot see from his eyes.... i dont know what colour is he actually perceiving........

a person's life becomes colourful accordingly ....

Answer 4

Peple can have different levels of "colourblindness". My grandfather is almost totally colourblind (sees everything in grey tones) and my mother has some red/green colourblindness. She'll look at something and tells me she sees it as beige but believes it's probably green.

GPs and other places can test you to see if you are colourblind. You just look at a picture book and tell them what you see - easy! There might even be some online.

Answer 5

Some people are colour blind. They may not be able to distinguish between blue and yellow or they may not see colours at all, but see in monochrome.

Answer 6

I think so. My brother can't tell the difference between dark grey, dark blue and black or brown. I can't imagine not being able to see all the colors...but then again, bees can see colors we can't see.

Answer 7

My sister brought this up to me. I don't think it makes much sense though. I think we all see colours the same way.

EDIT:

lol at people talking about being colour blind...that's not what this person is talking about. haha :P