Creativity and Disorderly Environment

A recent study by researchers at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, has released results showing that different environments are linked to different outcomes. The title of the abstract was:  “Generosity, and Conventionality, Whereas Disorder Produces Creativity.” I’m sure you already can guess that the word disorder gave me pause because so often in brain-function research one word can describe either an author’s preference or dis-ease. Left-brainers often describe my frontal-right organizing style of “stacking” in my office as “messy.” Anyway, researchers did three experiments:

1.    Participants in an orderly room (as compared to those in a disorderly room) chose healthier snacks and donated more money.

2.    Participants in a disorderly room were more creative than participants in an orderly room.

3.    Participants in an orderly room preferred an option labeled as classic while those in a disorderly room preferred an option labeled as new.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/24/9/1860