Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ceiling Height May Affect Problem-Solving Skills

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the how-low-can-you-go dept.

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."

18 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Glass Ceilings by TheCouchPotatoFamine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obviously, they're doing it wrong.

    --
    CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
    1. Re:Glass Ceilings by ThePromenader · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Ceiling Height May Affects Problem-Solving Skills"

      Whoever wrote that headline must have a low ceiling.

      --

      No, no sig. Really.

      ThePromenader
  2. May affects? by patternmatch · · Score: 5, Funny

    It may affects grammar skills too.

    1. Re:May affects? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Where is the problem? The ceiling height May (obviously not every May is a ceiling height May; I wonder what's special about those, and if May 2007 is one) affects problem-solving skills (i.e. whenever we have a ceiling height May, the problem-solving skills are either increased or reduced significantly).

      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?"

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  3. Maybe... by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can buy the idea that the ceiling tends to stifle my creativity, but I think the chain attaching me to my desk and the guy who comes around every 15 minutes with the whip probably don't help either. And if all that weren't bad enough, they haven't changed the variety of snacks in the snack machine in like 3 years. There has to be something in the Geneva Conventions about that.

  4. Ceiling Height May Affects Grammar Skills by hexed_2050 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think you made a mistake in the title.

    From the title "Ceiling Height May Affects Problem-Solving Skills"

    Should be "Ceiling Height May Affects Grammar Skills"

    h

    --
    Valkyrie is about to die! Wizard needs food -- badly!
  5. Finally! by Penguinisto · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...I can now justify my smoke breaks as "more creative thinking" time! Sweet! (no ceiling out back where I pollute my lungs... :) )

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:Finally! by sjwest · · Score: 3, Funny

      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

  6. TPS reports by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Funny

    Umm, we just read a report that ceiling height affects detail-oriented thinking. Mmmkay? So, I'm gonna have to ask you to mount this sheet of plywood across the top of your cubicle. If you could just take care of that, that'd be really great.

  7. I'd normally come up with a witty comment by CaptainPatent · · Score: 4, Funny

    But the ceiling is closing in on me!!!

    --
    Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
  8. Re:Interesting Thought by tedgyz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wealthier individuals with the larger home... does the environment itself produce children who are less restricted in their thinking? Ummm... Paris Hilton? She's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
    --
    "No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
  9. Ok but... by bhmit1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...if they move my desk again I'm going to burn the building down.

  10. I would trot out the Soviet Russia joke by suitepotato · · Score: 3, Funny

    but it seems that everywhere, the ceiling makes you.

    --
    If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
  11. Re:Next step by the+phantom · · Score: 4, Funny

    You get wet when it rains.

    --
    Rhapsody in Numbers
  12. Re:Perfect by orangesquid · · Score: 3, Funny

    What about outdoors versus indoors?

    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 (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...

    --
    --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
  13. Re:What About Tall People? by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm nearly 7 feet tall, so how does this affect my ideas? Can I call in a "ceiling bias" at work

    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"?

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  14. Re:On a more serious note by 0rionx · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. Write up an interesting comment
    2. "Accidentally" cut it into two separate posts
    3. ???
    4. Karma!

    --
    The Slashdot Limerick
  15. Re:fascinating by topherhenk · · Score: 3, Funny

    How's about we put you in a 1m x 1m x 1m box and see how your creativity changes. Hey, you can't use my office for this study.