Ceiling Height Can Affect How A Person Thinks, Feels And Acts | Hacker News Reader

Ceiling Height Can Affect How A Person Thinks, Feels And Acts

sciencedaily.com

22 pointsrams12 comments

In Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky the main character complains at one point that the low ceiling in his apartment is constricting his thoughts. So Dostoyevsky had this notion right quite a while ago.

(Then again, the main character had also recently murdered an old lady, so the main problem is not in the apartment.)

> Ceiling Height Can Affect How A Person Thinks, Feels And Acts

It certainly can. I've hit my head on several low ceilings. Causes spontaneous verbalisation and a tendency to duck a lot.

More seriously, does it have a different effect on tall-vs-short people? Is it ceiling height-above-floor or height-above-head?

I wonder if this has to do with peripheral vision, because there's less feeling of a ceiling above you when the roof is higher because you see less of it. I wonder if there's a difference between sitting on the floor and sitting on a chair and how it affects a persons cognitive activities.

Perhaps something to do with small people having big ideas?

Kidding (just kidding).

But there was an article on here recently about ants, and how ants have developed this amazingly efficient system in their smallness. Using their collective intelligence and such, to navigate barriers.

Where's the science here? The linked article talks about research, but doesn't actual describe any results. Instead we get stuff like:

The research demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can evoke concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information.

What on earth does that mean? How in the hell would you quantify the evocation of a concept? Look, either there is an experiment here or there isn't. This article uses the vocabulary of science to say, basically, that high ceilings are really pretty. Well, duh.

Indirect link to the actual paper: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=195430

I wonder whether the researchers took into account how the sound in the space bounces around. A higher ceiling often means more bounce. Me, I lose all concentration where treble sounds are bouncing.

What does working in a small gray cube do for your mind?

Oh wait we know, Peopleware was published what 20+ years ago.

And yet, despite that, and despite Joel's magical office, we won't see cubicles go away any time soon

You can put the cubicles in a high-ceiling room. This way you can both have your employees think creatively, and humiliate them enough that they don't ask for a raise.

When I moved to my current apartment I went from 8' to 10' ceilings and I noticed an improvement like that. My office building has ~25' ceilings and I've always felt I think better there than at most other places. It has an excellent natural light system that helps a lot too.

It would be interesting to know if churches were designed with ginormous ceilings primarily for this reason, or rather to be designated as the center point of a town. I have definitely noticed a much different style of thought every time I have to spend a few hours in one.

For some reason, I'm reminded of the scenes from 'Being John Malkovich' in the company office 'fun-house'. Was it intentional?

http://thepilver.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/2cx6luf.jpg

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