From warm splashes of sunlight gathering on a windowsill in the early morning, to the colour of traffic lights on the road or even just the banana you’re planning to eat at work, the colour yellow is almost everywhere we look. Don’t believe me? Take a moment to glance around you and I’m pretty sure you’ll spot at least one yellow object in your periphery.

But does living in a yellow-filled world have any effect on us psychologically? Googling the question “how does yellow make you feel?” pings back over 835million results, with websites, message boards and social media feeds all debating the psychological benefits – or otherwise – of the colour yellow. Some advocate it as making them feel happy and joyful, while others are less than impressed – a quick scan reveals that yellow is also associated with feelings of envy and anger, and can even bring out irritability and anxiety in some.

For a while, the colour yellow had a surprisingly bad rep – due, in part, to the words of “colour authority” Carlton Wagner. Wagner carved out a successful career in the eighties and nineties by advising brands on what colours to use to advertise their products, all under the umbrella of his own company, the Wagner Institute for Colour Research, based in California. He made absolutely no secret of his hatred for the colour yellow.

“Never paint a nursery yellow,” he declared in 1992, claiming that the colour could activate the anxiety centre of the brain, causing upset to both babies and humans.

“In infants, it results in crying,” he continued. “In adults, it results in shortness of temper. We notice a lot of fighting.”

The colour psychology of yellow: its surprising impact on our mood