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In color psychology, red provokes the strongest emotion of any color. The increased heart rate can be associated with either blushing and passion or power and danger. So in general, you could say that red is a color that 'excites'. One would assume that this is because it is not a color we see often in the natural world. The green of the trees, the brown of the ground and the bright blue sky helps calm us down. Those colors (generally) signals to us that all is well. Red on the other hand can only mean so many things. Trickling blood is red, which puts us in high alert. During fall, leaves start turning red, signalling an imminent change in seasons. Dusk and dawn see the horizon turning red, marking the beginning and end of a day. Roses are red. Some berries and fruits are red. By association, red is a color you have to look out for.

How does a race with blue blood react (on a subconscious level) to the colour blue?

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    $\begingroup$ It's not because my key ring is red that I'm frighten of it, nor do I am afraid of... Ketchup, real raw steak's blood, hmm... Alizarin Crimson liquid paint? And my bloody spot on my nose which exploded not long ago. I'm not sure I understand where the thought that ordinary people are easily disturbed by things looking similar to their own blood. Hemophobia happens yes, but it's faaaarrr from being all of them :). $\endgroup$
    – Tortliena - inactive
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 18:23
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    $\begingroup$ "The sight of a trickling red liquid, elicits a fear response from any ordinary human": No it doesn't. In fact, lots of ordinary humans actually like wine. (And lots of ordinary male humans are attracted by female humans dressed in red. For example, here is a recording of the Violin Concerto op.47 by Jean Sibelius, with the soloist Hillary Hahn in a gorgeous red dress: notice that nobody shows any sign of fear, quite the contrary.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 18:25
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe it’s just me, but I am pretty much desensitized to red liquids, and blood, even human blood, even my own blood, though that last one is often cause for some concern. $\endgroup$
    – Topcode
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 22:35
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    $\begingroup$ The question is re-written but I feel it still misses the point. Red, as relation to blood, is not at all why we perceive it as we do. The question supposes some sort of biological predisposition. I do not really think there is such a thing. Red is somewhat associated with "danger" or "important" but that's more cultural. Stop lights are generally coloured red not because of blood or danger - the explanation is far more mundane - red has the highest wave length, this it's more easily visible from further away and more noticeable. But in some contexts it's used as a good thing, not "danger" $\endgroup$
    – VLAZ
    Commented Oct 13, 2022 at 14:23
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    $\begingroup$ So the entire premise of "what would a fictional species with blue blood think of the colour blue" is still completely off. They might have completely different associations. And most likely would be driven by culture, rather than just biology. The entire environment would likely matter, as well as how they even perceive colour. Maybe they don't even see red. Maybe blue is very boring colour because it just went out of fashion. $\endgroup$
    – VLAZ
    Commented Oct 13, 2022 at 14:23

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The human (primate) response to the color red is a lot more nuanced than just triggering fear. Red can mean your blood or the blood of a friend, but it can also mean the blood of an enemy, or the blood and meat of an animal you just killed, or a nice ripe fruit. Red doesn't really mean "avoid this" so much as "notice this"; our eyes gravitate toward red things as opposed to the blues and greens that typically make up the "background" of the world we live in. Red can get us excited, whether this excitement is positive or negative depends on context.

Would a species with blue blood respond to the color blue in the same way? I would guess not, since blue is a background color by default (as long as you live on a planet where the sea and sky are blue) it wouldn't make sense to get excited over blue even if it does happen to be the color of your blood. Instead the species might have other instinctive ways of identifying blood, like its viscosity, or the juxtaposition of blue against their skin color.

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They're not afraid of blue. Being fearful of the oceans and the sky doesn't sound very useful to evolution so I'm guessing they simply wouldn't have any particular response to the colour blue. Maybe unless it also has the same texture as their blood.

As far as how they respond to the sight of blood? In the same way we do, I doubt colour has much to do with our response to the presence of an open wound. For example, we know insects and aliens are bleeding even when their blood isn't red

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