It is amazing how much the environment can influence our behavior and most of the time we do not realize it is happening. Yet, knowing this helps us appreciate that we are not separate from our surroundings.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been studying this phenomenon by examining the effect that a clean or messy environment has on human tendencies.
The Effect of Cleanliness
Study participants were asked to complete questionnaires in an office setting. Some were placed in an orderly, clean office. Others were put in a messy, cluttered one. After completing their task, each participant was offered an opportunity to give to a charity. They also had the option of grabbing either some chocolate or an apple as they left the research area.
Those subjects that completed questionnaires in clean rooms donated more to charity and were more likely to bypass the chocolate and take an apple. This confirms previous research showing that a clean environment influences people to do good things, or to do what is expected of them.
However, the researchers wondered if messiness might have a beneficial influence as well and designed experiments to find out.
The Effect of Messiness
Research participants were asked to think of new uses for ping pong balls. Some of them generated ideas in a clean, orderly room, while others did so in a disorderly setting. The people in both rooms came up with about the same number of ping pong ball ideas. However, impartial judges (not the researchers) assessed the ideas coming from the messy room participants to be more innovative and interesting.
“Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights,” concluded researcher Kathleen Vohs. “Being in a messy room led to something that firms, industries, and societies want more of: creativity.”
Inevitable Influence
Most of us prefer working in either a neat or a messy environment, but it seems we can be beneficially influenced by each. As in the movie and TV show The Odd Couple, the neat character Felix frequently influenced Oscar to temper his slovenly, unproductive ways, and messy Oscar caused Felix to sometimes loosen his controlling grip on life and be more spontaneous.
Whatever our personal preference, we are each exposed to a variety of settings at work, in homes, businesses, cars, and on Internet sites. We are not always in control of the order or disorder of these environments, but research indicates that we are influenced by its organization—or lack or it—simply by being exposed to it.
Source: Science Daily
