A Messy Desk? No, Just Simplifying Your Thoughts
People make clear and simple decisions at an untidy desk, research has found.
A messy desk can actually make you think more clearly, it seems those with a spotless desk could actually have lower levels of productivity.
The researchers from Germany studied untidy office desks and muddled shop fronts. Their findings showed that when surrounded by disorder people actually thought more clearly, as they tried to make the task at hand more straightforward.
It didn’t make a difference if the untidiness was visual or mental, the human mind seeks to simplify and think more clearly.
Many highly intelligent and creative minds have been notorious for their messy desks, including Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl. “Messy desks may not be as detrimental as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can boost work efficiency or enhance creativity in problem solving,” say the researchers.
However the effect did not work on everyone. Political liberals were unlikely to be worried by the chaos in the first place and so could work effectively at an untidy office desk. Conservatives were often too worried about the messiness to allow themselves to be more productive.
“Business and government managers often promote 'clean desk' policies to avoid disorganised offices and messy desks, for the purpose of boosting work efficiency and productivity,' said Jia Liu of the University of Groningen in a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
“This practice is based on the conventional wisdom that a disorganised and messy environment can clutter one's mind and complicate one's judgments.
“However, not all evidence supports this conventional link between a messy environment and a messy mind,” Jia Liu added.
The research carried out tested people’s reactions to untidy environments, including a chaotic desk and an untidy shop front. The results found that in the six experiments that took place, people tended towards straightforwardness in their thinking.
“They categorised products in a simpler manner, were willing to pay more for a t-shirt that depicts a simple-looking picture, and sought less variety in their choices,” said the researchers.
Strangely the effect varied dependent on the political preference of the person, which researchers put down to liberals being generally less bothered by mess or untidiness.
“Conservatives, when confronted with a messy environment (compared to a clean environment), were willing to pay more for a t-shirt with a simple-looking picture. Liberals' willingness to pay for this shirt was not affected by messiness,” the authors explained.
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