LiveScience - Ceiling Height Alters How You Think

LiveScience - Ceiling Height Alters How You Think

news.yahoo.com

Workers have long been concerned about glass ceilings at the office. Now they can wonder if the physical ceiling is keeping them from their full mental potential.

A recent study at the University of Minnesota suggests that ceiling height affects problem-solving skills and behavior by priming concepts that encourage certain kinds of brain processing.

"Priming means a concept gets activated in a person's head," researcher Joan Meyers-Levy told LiveScience. "When people are in a room with a high ceiling, they activate the idea of freedom. In a low-ceilinged room, they activate more constrained, confined concepts."

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What do you think wacko scientists or is there something to their theory?

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5/10/2007 by shots]

Might be something to it, but honestly I wouldn't know. However, I know that being in a room with a taller ceiling gives one a feeling of being more "free" then that of a low roofed room. Perhaps that has something that helps or hinders creativity?

Interesting article by the way.

Interesting read. Thinking back at various places I`ve lived and worked, I`m inclined to agree.

Unfortunately, once the upper-management types get ahold of this information, all you office types are in trouble.

It will go something like this at a board meeting: If an 8-foot ceiling makes people concentrate on details, just THINK of the productivity we`d have if we put a roof on the cubicles!

Well my apartment has vaulted ceilings... maybe that's why I feel so great all the time!

Seems reasonable I suppose. Any [interior] decorator will tell you high ceilings give a sense of openness and make a room seem larger. We know the color of a room can affect the brain. Seeing as we evolved without ceilings over our heads until we started making little huts to sleep in, it makes sense that the presence of one would affect us at more than a conscious level.

[edit on 10-5-2007 by apc]

Originally posted by vox2442
Interesting read. Thinking back at various places I`ve lived and worked, I`m inclined to agree.

Unfortunately, once the upper-management types get ahold of this information, all you office types are in trouble.

It will go something like this at a board meeting: If an 8-foot ceiling makes people concentrate on details, just THINK of the productivity we`d have if we put a roof on the cubicles!

I'm afraid vox may be onto something.......let's hope that those manageral stuffed shirts don't read 'alternative' news sources and they'll miss this little tidbit!

Interesting idea, makes one wonder......are we 'causing our own dumbness' by living in 'crackerbox' housing?? Could those old victorians with 14 ft ceilings have had a positive effect on the generations that were brought up in them?!

I'm inclined to agree, ever been to the capitol building? When walking down the office corridors you do get a sense of space (I don't know about "freedom") and it really is refreshing. Personally I always thought that they were designed that way to intimidate you and make you feel insignificant but who knows...

sounds to me its more of a "placebo effect" than anything.

i myself have witnessed similar situations, but after realizing i can transcend beyond any ceiling; things work themselves out.

To take this theory one step further....
Would it also mean then that a person who is say 4' 9" is more productive/creative in a low ceiling roomed than a person of say 6' 5"?

Back on topic...this just sounds like a western take on Feng Shui.
I do believe in Feng Shui. I've altered my environment on it's principals and have felt a lot better and productive. So I'm sure there is something in it.

[edit on 11-5-2007 by Flighty]