Ceiling Height May Affect Problem-Solving Skills 279
An anonymous reader writes to mention that a recent University of Minnesota study suggests that ceiling height may affect problem-solving skills. "'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.' Either can be good. The concept of freedom promotes information processing that encourages greater variation in the kinds of thoughts one has, said Meyers-Levy, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota. The concept of confinement promotes more detail-oriented processing."
Glass Ceilings (Score:5, Funny)
Just work outside (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Just work outside (Score:5, Interesting)
Until you start to sky dive
No I'm not being sarcastic I'm serious.
After sky diving regularly (to the point of being licensed and in control of yourself in the air) you start to look at the sky differently. It ceases to be just something that is there, instead its a medium that is yours, you can move with it in, you feel as though you have an extra degree of freedom - its changes your perspective.
I'm told many pilots and other aerial sports people feel the same way - ditto for divers and the water.
Re:Glass Ceilings (Score:5, Funny)
Whoever wrote that headline must have a low ceiling.
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May affects? (Score:5, Funny)
on the other hand.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:May affects? (Score:5, Funny)
Given the amount of spelling errors on Slashdot lately, I guess May 2007 is a ceiling height may, and it actually reduces at least the skill of solving the problem "is this spelled correctly?"
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Perfect (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Perfect (Score:4, Funny)
Ancient greek philosophers wandered around outside a lot, so the stories go. I'm curious about where lawmakers did their work, traditionally; probably inside buildings, but how high were the ceilings?
I checked the latest revision of wikipedia's page on Ancient Greek law [wikipedia.org] (as of the time of posting this comment) to see if there were any pictures of ancient Greek law buildings, but, there were only references to "Ancient Greek poop" and "Roman crap." This could be symbolically indicative of legislatures in low-ceiling buildings, but I suspect it's just random vandalism...
What About Tall People? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What About Tall People? (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand, didn't Newton say something around the lines of "If I have been able to see further, it is because I have been surrounded by midgets"?
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Depending on how fast you are running, your entire idea might stay in the room you just left. Wait, my bad, that would be your head. Eh, same difference.
fascinating (Score:2)
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Obviously, He dismisses it because he works in an office with 7' cielings.
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Re:fascinating (Score:5, Insightful)
I see that maxim quoted a lot these days. I see the point it's making, of course; but I can't help wondering: what does prove causation, then?
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Interesting Thought (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Interesting Thought (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Interesting Thought (Score:5, Insightful)
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Amazing how folks' minds go to Paris. I would argue her thinking is not restricted at all. This does not translate into "intelligent".
Yet she is incredibly successful. Her goal is to be famous, nothing more than that. There are plenty of extremely wealthy people who would like to be famous but haven't achieved the level of fame she has (bet you can't even name one such person, see?) Yet here we are talking about her on website which wouldn't normally even acknowledge her existence.
Certainly this latest bruhaha with her arrest/sentencing is giving her fame beyond anything that money can normally buy. Can we even be sure that it wasn't
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So Paris Hilton is a very poor example.
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Re:Interesting Thought (Score:4, Insightful)
Now think even broader than that. What will the effect be of the grand and unprecedented social experiment, conducted over the past two decades, of raising children almost continuously confined indoors?
The farther back in history you go, the more time everyone spent outdoors, in which there was no ceiling. Perhaps this explains some small part of the modern retreat from independence.
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Keeping in mind that there is a difference between restrictive thinking and the ability to think in the first place.
Perhaps one could say that her self discretion has been less restrictive from such an environment.
Maybe... (Score:5, Funny)
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Of course, we certainly know the working evironment can be too opulent as well. I'm looking at you, Ion Storm [gamespy.com]
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snack !!! you have snacks ?!?!? and a chair!?!?!
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yea, but only when I pedal extra hard and hold these rabbit ears at 45 degrees above my head, while whistling binaries tones into this set of tin can and strings.
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Ceiling Height May Affects Grammar Skills (Score:4, Funny)
From the title "Ceiling Height May Affects Problem-Solving Skills"
Should be "Ceiling Height May Affects Grammar Skills"
h
nice to hear some confirmation (Score:2)
Science (Score:5, Insightful)
Is marketing a Science now?
-Peter
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'The meaning of the word professor (Latin: "one who claims publicly to be an expert") varies. In most English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, generally as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor [wikipedia.org]
I've worked with some top-level marketing guys. Can't comment on the 'pure marketing' stuff, but I'm not too shabby at applied statist
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Probably.
On a more serious note (Score:3, Interesting)
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Personally, I wouldn't mind a more spacious store. They should do a study that shows people prefer aisles wide enough to walk through.
Re:On a more serious note (Score:5, Funny)
2. "Accidentally" cut it into two separate posts
3. ???
4. Karma!
Finally! (Score:4, Funny)
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I'm tall, and love to stretch - so im leaving the employment of the seven dwarfs..... ok snow white is cute but those bloody songs
Ah, modern psychology research (Score:5, Interesting)
I wasn't aware that cognitive psychology was a branch of marketing.
That's like saying that automotive engineering is an offshoot of ricer tuning. (To coin a car analogy)
TPS reports (Score:5, Funny)
That's why... (Score:2)
He wants us to be free
lol
Hmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd normally come up with a witty comment (Score:4, Funny)
Next step (Score:2)
Re:Next step (Score:5, Funny)
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Your computer gets stolen and your paperwork gets wet.
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Creativity wins!
Ok but... (Score:4, Funny)
Height of Ceiling VS Height of Worker? (Score:4, Insightful)
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A personal side note: I had the luxury of growing up in an apartment with 3 meter ceilings (~10 foot). It's nothing special - just an older building in Europe. However, growing up under such conditions, I find it quite hard to accept any place where someone of average height can touch the ce
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I'm also curious as to what industry you work in, where people would not be able to jump off their desk and reach that ceiling. The average desk height is around 30" which leaves four feet to a 6.5 foot high ceiling.
It's true for me, at least. (Score:4, Interesting)
I've encountered this effect personally - working on cars, the thought and problem-solving processes I go through when lying on the driveway under the car are notably different than those when I shimmy out and stand up next to it. Case in point: the starter/solenoid assembly on a 1977 Caprice is practically a topological brain teaser if you're trying to put it in or take it out without removing significant sections of the frame. There's literally one correct ordered set of rotations and translations that must be performed to do so.
Standing next to the car with the starter, I had an incredibly hard time solving this problem. Once under the car, however, it was a matter of a few minutes before I could "see" the solution. Before everyone points out the obvious, no, it wasn't a matter of being able to literally see the solution; given the available vantage point due to the right front tire, the jack, and a frame member, you really couldn't see any more of the problem than the first opening.
That's the most specific example I've got, but a similar thing has happened to me multiple times. At this point, I spend most of my planning time under the car with rust falling in my eyes, because I think better that way.
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It just lines up well with what the study is concluding, and, for me, lends credence to those conclusions.
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well, you are the control group.
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I spend a good amount of time taking old floor plan drawings to buildings and verifying dimensions and such. As soon as I enter the building, my first action is usually to orient the plans correctly to the actual building, and plot the path I'm going to take. Even th
Nonsense (Score:2)
I would trot out the Soviet Russia joke (Score:3, Funny)
Activating idea of freedom as a negative... (Score:3, Funny)
I went to a school that was built in the early 1800s and had some really high ceilings on the top floor... about 15 feet high. The doors were made of massive wood and 8 feet high. This prompted some creativity in the students and there was a teacher that was usually a bit late so they unhinged the inwards opening door, put it back so that it was just held by the handle lock. Teacher enters and door falls down with a really really major bang as it went down. Teaching staff was not amused by students apparent creativty.
Einstein (Score:3, Interesting)
From the headline. When people are in a room with a high ceiling, they activate the idea of freedom and The concept of freedom promotes information processing that encourages greater variation in the kinds of thoughts one has, said Meyers-Levy...
Superfriends (Score:3, Funny)
"Wonder Twin powers activate!"
"Shape of an idea of freedom!"
"Form of an ice-- wait, what? Can Gleek carry that in a bucket?"
Good thing my office has a sloping roof (Score:2)
(Yeah, it is a home office)
General Observations (Score:5, Interesting)
Medieval Europe (Score:2)
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The Problem WIth Low Ceilings (Score:2)
Glass (Score:3, Funny)
Thinking outside the box! (Score:2)
I expected the reverse. (Score:2)
Ceiling Height Variety (Score:5, Interesting)
Pattern #190: Ceiling Height Variety
http://www.ahartman.com/apl/patterns/apl190.htm [ahartman.com]
Wow? so what's next? (Score:2)
Outside! (Score:2)
another proposed test (Score:2)
Send 100 people out to do some statistical... (Score:2)
Etymology? (Score:2)
Alternate conclusion (Score:4, Insightful)
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A tiny cubicle may inspire more detail oriented thinking, but may have the consequence of lowering productivity because of other psychological effects.
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Both are probably useful, but it seems that there is an excess of the detail oriented ones, at least where I work, and as a result our codebase has no discernable overall architecture.
It looks more like fungus, growing erratically in every direction. It's unstable, bloated and runs like shit too.
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Anyways, it may (- see that, "may") be a good idea to give computer people a tighter workspace, and compensate by having a larger open area where they can relax and think big.
-Jeff
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