Standing and Performance (09-15-17)
Finch and her colleagues assessed how standing influences reading comprehension and creativity. They report on the findings of their lab experiment: study “participants completed reading comprehension and creativity tasks while both sitting and standing. Participants self-reported their mood during the tasks and also responded to measures of expended effort and task difficulty. . . . body position did not affect reading comprehension or creativity performance, nor did it affect perceptions of effort or [task] difficulty. . . . Participants exhibited greater task engagement (i.e., interest, enthusiasm, and alertness) and less comfort while standing rather than sitting. In sum, performance and psychological experience as related to task completion were nearly entirely uninfluenced by . . . standing desk use.” Study participants first stood or sat while taking a set of reading comprehension and creativity tests and then changed to the alternate position (those sitting down stood up and those standing up sat down) to complete additional reading comprehension and creativity tests. Participants, on average, spent about 30 minutes standing and about 30 minutes seated during the study.
Laura Finch, A. Tomiyama, and Andrew Ward. 2017. “Take a Stand: The Effects of Standing Desks on Task Performance and Engagement.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no. 8, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580641/.
Bright Light, Dim Light, Implications (09-14-17)
Research Xu and Labroo published in 2014 was discussed in a 2017 issue of KelloggInsight, bringing their study findings to the attention of a broad audience of management professionals. As the article in KelloggInsight states, Xu and Labroo found that “bright light can make us a little hot under the collar. This is true physically—we feel warmer in a brightly lit room than in a dimmer one at the same temperature—as well as emotionally. In one study, participants were shown a script for a commercial that featured a man honking at someone while driving, cursing at someone in a parking lot, and rushing past a pregnant woman. Participants viewed the man’s behavior as more aggressive when the lights in the room in which they were sitting were bright. Bright light also amplifies positive reactions—female models were rated as more attractive to participants sitting in a brightly lit room than in a dimly lit one. . . . So if you want to sway others with an impassioned plea, consider a place flooded with light. If you want cooler heads to prevail, however, hit the dimmer switch.” Xu and Labroo’s 2014 study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (“Turning On the Hot Emotional System with Bright Light,” vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 207-216). In their article, the researchers report that “Across six studies we show that ambient brightness makes people feel warmer, which increases the intensity of their affective [emotional] response.” In the brighter condition, overhead fluorescent lights of unspecified intensity were turned on and in the dimmer condition they were turned off and the only light in the research space came from computer screens in use (again, intensity of light unknown).
“Take 5: How to Nurture Your Work Relationships.” 2017. KelloggInsight, https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/take-five-how-to-nurture-your-work-relationships?utm_source=subscriber&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiAiMWMyMmU0NDMtODg0ZC00YmJkLWI4MmYtMzVmZjk5ZjRjYTc5In0%3D&utm_medium=em
Beware of Too Much Workplace Standing (09-13-17)
Multiple recent studies report that sitting too long at work can be dangerous; new research by Smith and his team indicates that too much standing at work can also be harmful. Workplace options that encourage people to sit, stand, move, and change position are advantageous. Data collected over 12 years for 7320 employed Canadians 35 years old or older, who were free of heart disease when the study began, were examined. The researchers determined that “Occupations involving predominantly standing were associated with an approximately two-fold risk of heart disease compared to occupations involving predominantly sitting.” Statistical techniques were used to eliminate “other health, socio-demographic and work variables” as explanations for the effects found.
Peter Smith, Huiting Ma, Richard Glazier, Mahee Gilbert-Ouimet, and Cameron Mustard. “The Relationship Between Occupational Standing and sitting and Incident Heart Disease over a 12-Year Period in Ontario, Canada.” American Journal of Epidemiology, in press.
Personal Space Invasions (09-12-17)
Lewis and her team researched personal space invasions in airplanes. Their findings indicate there are several ways we can invade each other’s space: “The invasion of personal space is often a contributory factor to the experience of discomfort in aircraft passengers. . . . the results of this study indicate that the invasion of personal space is not only caused by physical factors (e.g. physical contact with humans or objects), but also other sensory factors such as noise, smells or unwanted eye contact.” The lessons learned by Lewis and her team are applicable in all shared spaces, not only airplane interiors.
Laura Lewis, Harshada Patel, Mirabelle D’Cruz, and Sue Cobb. 2017. “What Makes a Space Invader? Passenger Perceptions of Personal Space Invasion in Aircraft Travel.” Journal of Ergonomics, vol. 60, no. 11, pp. 1461-1470.
Pediatricians and Green Schoolyards (09-11-17)
Stephen Pont’s presentation (“Green Schoolyards Support Healthy Bodies, Minds and Communities") at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) indicates that medical professionals are recognizing the value of green spaces. An AAP press release shares the abstract for Pont’s session: “Schoolyards present an ideal, though usually untapped, environment to support the health of children. A growing body of evidence supports the claim that access to safe, natural areas improves health across a wide variety of outcomes, including cardiovascular health, mental health, weight management, ADHD, and stress among children. . . . . Green schoolyards offer an opportunity for access to healthy outdoor environments in everyday lives of children. When opened to the public outside of school hours, they provide value to the entire community through improved health outcomes, higher rates of community and family cohesion, and increased opportunities for active outdoor play and restoration. . . . . Pediatricians and pediatric health providers can be key leaders in this effort, lending their health influence in the community to promoting outdoor engagement on green schoolyards as an intervention that supports both mental and physical health in children.”
“Green Schoolyards Offer Physical and Mental Health Benefits for Children and Their Communities.” 2017. Press release, American Academy of Pediatrics, https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/Green-Schoo...
Workplaces Evolving (09-08-17)
MIT researchers Ratti and Claudel, writing in the Harvard Business Review, confirm that the workplace is evolving in important ways. They share that “Today’s technology does allow global and instantaneous communication, but most of us still commute to offices for work every day. . . . What early digital commentators missed is that even if we can work from anywhere, that does not mean we want to. We strive for places that allow us to share knowledge, to generate ideas, and to pool talents and perspectives. Human aggregation, friction, and the interaction of our minds are vital aspects of work, especially in the creative industries. And that is why the quality of the physical workplace is becoming more crucial than ever. . . . Far from making offices obsolete, as the digital pioneers of the 1990s confidently predicted, technology will transform and revitalize workspaces. We could soon work in a more sociable and productive way, and not from the top of a mountain. The ominous ‘death of distance’ may be reversed with the ‘birth of a new proximity.’”
Carlo Ratti and Matthew Claudel. 2016. “If Work Is Digital, Why Do We Still Go to the Office?” Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2016/04/if-work-is-digital-why-do-we-still-go-to-the-office
Creativity and Music (09-07-17)
Ritter and Ferguson tied enhanced creativity to listening to certain types of music. As the pair detail “The current study experimentally tests whether listening to specific types of music (four classical music excerpts systematically varying on valance [how happy or sad they seemed] and arousal [energy level]), as compared to . . . silence . . . facilitates divergent and convergent creativity. Creativity was higher for participants who listened to ‘happy music’ (i.e., classical music high on arousal and positive mood) while performing the divergent creativity task, than for participants who performed the task in silence. No effect of music was found for convergent creativity.” So, listening to that “happy” music helped people come up with a range of different ideas, but wasn’t as helpful when it came time to narrow those ideas down to a single solution. The “happy” music study participants listened to was the Spring movement of “Seasons” by Vivaldi. The positive, calmer music heard was the Swan from “Carnival of the Animals” by Saint-Saens. The other two musical pieces listened to were “Adagio for Strings, opus 11” by Barber and “The Planets: Mars, Bringer of War” by Holst.
Simone Ritter and Sam Ferguson. 2017. “Happy Creativity: Listening to Happy Music Facilitates Divergent Thinking.” PLoS ONE, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182210
Benefits of Nature Videos (09-06-17)
Nadkarni and her colleagues confirmed the value of watching nature videos, even in challenging environments. The team share that “An estimated 5.3 million Americans live or work in nature-deprived venues such as prisons, homeless shelters, and mental hospitals. . . . We report on the effects of vicarious nature experiences (nature videos) provided to maximum-security prison inmates for one year, and compared their emotions and behaviors to inmates who were not offered such videos. Inmates who watched nature videos reported feeling significantly calmer [for hours after seeing the videos], less irritable, and more empathetic, and committed 26% fewer violent infractions as compared to those who did not watch the videos. Prison staff corroborated these findings. This research reinforces the value of nature exposure as a powerful tool not only for corrections administrators, but also for urban planners and policy makers, to promote socially desirable behaviors.” Inmates watched the nature videos while exercising in a high-walled concrete recreation yard that they had access to 4 or 5 times a week for 45 minutes per session. They were able to select the video viewed and available images depicted a number of different sorts of spaces, including deserts and rain forests.
Nalini Nadkarni, Patricia Hasbach, Tierney Thys, Emily Crockett, and Lance Schnacker. 2017. “Impacts of Nature Imagery on People in Severely Nature-Deprived Environments.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 395-403.
Seeing => Snacking (09-01-17)
A research team lead by Elliston confirms that when we see others eating/snacking, we are more likely to eat/snack ourselves. Since many members of society are trying to get/stay slim, the findings from Elliston’s group complicates the development of spaces such as open plan homes and at-work break/dining areas. Casual interactions can lead to social bonds among employees, for example, and centrally located break areas that are visually accessible to large groups of people are common. That visibility may undermine employee health and wellbeing since people are more likely to eat/snack when they see others doing so. Visually separating “eaters” from coffee drinkers and other “non-eaters” would help concerned individuals maintain a healthy diet, but could prove socially awkward. Given the limited number of square feet likely available for break/eating areas, these sorts of segmented spaces might also be difficult to design. The Elliston team also reports that “Having snacks available and easily accessible [as they are in many workplaces] was associated with an increased likelihood of snacking. Exposure to food cues increases individuals' motivation to eat and subsequently the likelihood of their eating. . . . Reducing the availability of snacks from specific environments, such as in the home or office, is likely to weaken the temptation to snack.”
Katherine Elliston, Stuart Ferguson, and Benjamin Schuz. “Personal and Situational Predictors of Everyday Snacking: An Application of Temporal Self-Regulation Theory.” British Journal of Health Psychology, in press.
Crowding, Music, Stores (08-30-17)
Can the number of beats per minute (i.e., the tempo) of music being played influence perceptions of crowding in stores? A research team lead by Knoferle has found that it does: “In non-hedonic [not pleasure focused] settings such as retail stores, high perceived crowding has primarily been associated with negative outcomes such as stress, negative feelings, reduced feelings of control, and reduced spending. . . . Yet, from a shop owner’s perspective, social density [the number of people in an area] is desirable, as more customers typically lead to more sales.. . . . we found evidence for the moderating role of music on the effect of social density on shopping basket value: When social density was low to medium, instore music tempo did not have a significant impact on basket value. However, when customer crowding was high, fast in-store music had a strong positive effect on basket value. . . . retail managers should be aware of the interplay between ambient music and customer density. . . .music may be an efficient means of countering the negative effects of high consumer density.”
Klemans Knoferle, Vilhelm Paus, and Norges Varmesse. 2016. “An Upbeat Crowd: The Effect of Social Density and Instore Music Tempo on Retail Sales.” Proceedings of the 2016 Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 277-279, http://www.myscp.org/pdf/conference%20documents/SCP2016_Proceedings_6_4_...
Store Sprawl – Why It Matters (08-29-17)
Sevilla and Townsend investigated links between retail sales and “’product-to-space ratio’ - how much [retail] space is dedicated to the presentation of each item.” The researchers report that they “demonstrate that retailers that allocate more space to the presentation of an assortment benefit from positive effects on product valuation, purchase, and even perceived product experience (taste).”
Julio Sevilla and Claudia Townsend. 2016. “The Product-to-Space Ratio Effect: How Space Influences Product Aesthetic Appeal, Store Perceptions, and Product Preference.” Proceedings of the 2016 Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 293-294, http://www.myscp.org/pdf/conference%20documents/SCP2016_Proceedings_6_4_16.pdf
Ownership’s Implications (08-28-17)
Chung and Johar investigated links between feeling ownership of an object and performance of object-related tasks. They report that “Possessions define who we are (Belk, 1988). . . .Research has found that consumers perceive themselves to possess the same traits as products they feel ownership over (McCracken, 1986) and exhibit product-consistent behaviors (Gino, Norton, & Ariely, 2010). . . . [researchers found that] psychological ownership over a product increase beliefs that product-related traits are an important part-of-the-self (Weiss & Johar, 2013).” During Chung and Johar’s study, participants who thought about ear buds they owned did better on a music-comprehension quiz than on a creative-writing quiz. In shot: “Results from five experiments reveal a robust link between products we feel ownership over and our behavior. Our behavior is consistent with the traits of our possessions, presumably because we ascribe these very same traits to ourselves. While such enhancement of performance may be beneficial, product ownership also has a downside in that it attenuates [weakens] performance on traits that are not ascribed to possessions.”
Jaeyeon Chung and Gita Johar. 2016. “The Bounded Self: Effects of Product-Ownership Induced Identity Activation on Product (Un)Related Task Performance.” Proceedings of the 2016 Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 228-230, http://www.myscp.org/pdf/conference%20documents/SCP2016_Proceedings_6_4_...
Photographing’s Effects (08-25-17)
Users and potential users of spaces/objects are often asked to take photos in design-relevant situations and to answer questions about their experiences in the photo’ed scenes. Research completed by Barasch and her colleagues should inform the analysis of data collected in this way: “In two field and four lab experiments, we find that taking photos can actually heighten engagement in experiences, which for positive experiences results in increased enjoyment. This is the case even when an experience is visually homogenous, and is not affected by the number of photos taken. For negative experiences, however, the enhanced engagement that results from taking photos worsens the experience.”
Alixandra Barasch, Kristin Diehl, and Gal Zauberman. 2016. “Does Taking Photos Get in the Way? The Effect of Photo-Taking on the Enjoyment of Experiences.” Proceedings of the 2016 Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 212-214.
Weight and Perceptions and Actions (08-24-17)
Taylor-Coville and Eves probed how our weight influences our perceptions of the world around us. Their findings can be useful to designers trying to understand and utilize data collected from space users, for example. Taylor-Coville and Eves found “more exaggerated reports of staircase steepness in overweight than in healthy-weight participants.” These impressions matter because they have public health implications: “Overweight pedestrians are more likely to avoid stair climbing when a motorized alternative is available . . . Pedestrians navigating the built environment are likely to base their choices on ‘feel’ rather than making careful perceptual estimates of the alternatives. . . . the greater perceptual bias in the overweight for stair steepness might deter them from a type of physical activity that would be beneficial for their health.”
Guy Taylor-Coville and Frank Eves. 2016. “Carrying a Biological ‘Backpack’: Quasi-Experimental Effects of Weight Status and Body Fat Change on Perceived Steepness.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 331-338.
Objects and Conversations (08-22-17)
Owned objects get conversations started, and that’s generally a good thing. Wiener, Bettman, and Luce report that “consumers can use publically displayed products [they own] as tools to help them to initiate conversations with others, facilitate self-disclosure, and help these conversations go well. . . . the products a person chooses to display may influence how successful the ‘first meeting’ conversation between two strangers is. Specifically, we examine how products can facilitate self-disclosure. Self-disclosure increases liking between people (Collins & Miller, 1994). . . . . In two studies we find reliable evidence that people who approach a stranger to talk with them rely on publicly displayed products as a source of material for initial conversations. . . . This shows a new use for products—as tools to help people to connect with strangers and potentially establish new relationships. ” This study builds on previous ones that established “the use of products as signals of social status (Wilcox, Kim, & Sen, 2009), group membership (Escalas & Bettman, 2003), and individuality (Berger & Heath, 2008).” More reasons to encourage office personalization, for example!
Hillary Wiener, James Bettman, and Mary Luce. 2016. “Products as Ice Breakers: The Value of Conversation Pieces.” Proceedings of the 2016 Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 235-236, http://www.myscp.org/pdf/conference%20documents/SCP2016_Proceedings_6_4_...
Transparency in Restaurants: A Good Thing (08-18-17)
Buell, Kim, and Tsay found that there are positive repercussions when chefs and people ordering food can see each other. The team created “transparency” by linking chefs and people ordering in their restaurants via video conferencing software on iPads. They determined via “two field and two lab experiments in food service contexts . . . that reciprocal transparency, where both consumers and employees can see each other, can improve both consumer experiences and objective service quality. . . . Customer perceptions of service value were higher when chefs could observe them . . . than when they could not. . . . Furthermore. . . when chefs could not observe customers, whether customers saw the chefs . . . or not . . . did not make a difference. . . . when chefs observed customers, customers perceived higher value of service when they observed . . . than when they could not. . . . Customer assessment of food quality followed the same pattern. Furthermore, when both chefs and customers could see each other, chefs produced each meal order significantly faster than when they could not see each other.”
Ryan Buell, Tami Kim, and Chia-Jung Tsay. 2015. “Creating Reciprocal Value Through Transparency.” Conference Proceedings, Society for Consumer Psychology, pp. 64-65, http://www.myscp.org/conferences/documents_scp.aspx#.WY4ZT63My1s
Clean or Dirty Offices (08-17-17)
Huangfu and team studied links between workplace cleanliness and employee attitudes toward counterproductive work behavior (CWB). They learned, working with a group of participants in China, that “participants working in a clean environment tended to regard CWB as less acceptable than did those in a dirty environment, that is, a cleaner environment led to harsher judgment. Results suggested that there is a metaphorical association between environmental cleanliness and moral judgment.” This research confirms how important it is to consider “maintainability” when workplaces are being developed.
Gang Huangfu, Feng Lv, Cheng Sheng, and Xiaochen Shi. 2017. “Effect of Workplace Environment Cleanliness on Judgment of Counterproductive Work Behavior.” Social Behavior and Personality, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 599-604.
Light and Risk Taking (08-16-17)
Glimcher and Tymula studied the effects of outdoor light intensity on risk taking behavior over a two-year period. They “found that increased luminance leads to less risk taking. . . . the effects are . . . consistent, significant.” Some useful definitions: “Risk attitudes refer to people’s willingness to take known risks. . . . ‘luminance’ is a measurement of the amount of light that falls on the surface of the earth. Cloud cover, humidity, suspended particles in the atmosphere, time of day, time of year, and a number of other factors influence luminance.” The researchers’ collection of data indoors was acceptable because the “psychological effects of higher intensity outdoor luminance are now well-known to persist for hours or even for days.” The researchers, in their conclusion, “note that manipulating the indoor luminance levels–the overhead light intensity–in markets like the New York Stock Exchange ought to have an effect on market volatility and risk premiums.”
Paul Glimcher and Agnieszka Tymula. 2017. “Let the Sunshine In? The Effects of Luminance on Economic Preferences, Choice Consistency and Dominance Violations.” PLoS ONE, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181112.
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