1/9/2020 The Psychology of Space, Part 1 – Facility Manager

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The Psychology
of Space, Part 1
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1/9/2020 The Psychology of Space, Part 1 – Facility Manager

 Jon Bradshaw  June 1, 2015   0 comments (http://magazine.iavm.org/article/the-psychology-

of-space-part-1/#respond)

While exploring the IAVM website the other day, I couldn’t help but be inspired by the incredible range
of event spaces that are showcased. Over the last 20 years, the evolution in structural engineering has
allowed architects to create ever-more creative, inspired, and aesthetically pleasing designs for
convention centres, arenas, and meeting spaces inside and out.

Interestingly, although I work in interpersonal communication, our team of behavioural scientists are
often approached by architects involved in creating such spaces to ensure that, aside from being
incredible to look at, their designs take into account the numerous effects that we know the
environment has on the way humans think, feel, and behave. So this month, in the rst of two parts, let
me explore with you reasons why architects are increasingly turning to psychology in the bid to create
the perfect event space.

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Perhaps it is worth initially highlighting a few fundamental points: The rst is that humans are not all
the same and individuals may react differently to space design (Danielsson, 2009; Maher von Hippel,
2005). The studies I’ve used in writing this column generally look at average differences in relation to
the impact of space. In other words, the effects are group effects rather than on every individual within
that group. Second, it is fascinating to see that in several studies the effects are “non-conscious,”
meaning that people are not necessarily aware that any changes in feelings or behaviour are actually
related to the environment they were in. Finally, it is also worth noting that effects can differ over time
due to the nature of adaptation, whereby individuals adapt to changes in the environment which, in
turn, means the impact of the environment may be reduced over time. One key psychological insight is
therefore that, when wanting to impact emotions and behaviours, space that allows exibility and
adaptability may be more effective as it caters for individual preferences as well as longer term
adaptation that may occur.

Another bene t of creating a exible and adaptable environment is the fact that spaces that change
regularly have been shown to be rated higher and, in addition, have elicited more positive attitudes
within the individual, too (McElroy & Morrow, 2010). There is also strong evidence that suggests the
more control and autonomy people have to personalize or modify the spaces in which they interact the
more they report a greater sense of psychological comfort and well-being (Knight and Haslam, 2010a).
For example, within an of ce this might be borne out through individuals personalizing their desks
with a photo of their family, a plant, or in some cases, table top basketball or soccer. Within a
conference this might result in the organisers offering numerous types of seating choice (sofa,
armchair, bean bag, etc.) as opposed to forcing everyone to sit in theatre-style on generic standard
seats. (They may also encourage the audience not to sit down at all, too!)

Although the process through which architectural space impacts on psychological phenomena is not
fully understood, one key process is through encouraging optimal levels of arousal (Davis et al, 2011).
People function at their best, and are most satis ed, when they are optimally aroused
(Csikszentmihalyi, 2003). Both under arousal and over arousal have been demonstrated detrimental
psychological impact across many studies. Many of the impacts of space can be understood through
impacting on the optimum level of arousal, attempting to provide suf cient, but not too much
stimulation and invigoration to foster positive experiences. This has also been demonstrated in
research focusing on optimal performance, where people in states of “ ow” (where they are engaged
appropriately in the activity at hand) is achieved when individuals have suf cient minimal levels of
arousal to reduce the impacts of boredom, but not too much arousal as to provide anxiety
(Csikszentmihalyi, 2003).

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Interestingly, recent work has demonstrated that the size of a room can have an impact on the level of
openness of people who meet within it (Okken, Rompay, &  Pruyn, 2013). In the research, large rooms
were shown to encourage people to be more open and rooms with higher ceilings were linked to
increased levels of free, open, and creative thinking. One theory is that in high ceilinged rooms,
individuals feel relatively unconstrained and can therefore impact on their thinking styles (Levy & Zhu,
2007).

However, psychology also indicates that a room can actually be too big. Vast spaces in which people
are distant have been shown to impact on interaction and levels of creativity (Kallio, et al., 2015). I
think the learning here is that the size of room for a networking event should very much be related to
the number of people expected to attend. This might sound obvious but I’m sure I’m not the only one
who has attended an event for 100 people in a room that could accommodate three times that amount.

Spaces that encourage interaction and communality have been found to increase interpersonal liking,
which impacts on collaboration and the experience of space. Spaces that encourage chance encounters
through managing serendipity can therefore increase bonds and connections between people as well
as impact on well-being (Easterbrook, & Vignoles, 2014). An example illustrating this very unscienti c
sounding phenomenon would be of ces in which the restroom, café, or other social areas are placed in
the middle of an open plan space as opposed to within individual departments. Research on the impact
of the creativity levels within Pixar, for example, has cited Steve Jobs’ decision to design its of ce in
California in this very way as one of the reasons behind the huge levels of creativity.

Finally, it is not just the size of space that has been found to have impacts on psychological functioning
—the shape is important, too. Curvilinear spaces have been found to be judged much more beautiful
than rectilinear spaces (Vartanian et al., 2013) as well as been shown to elicit a more positive
emotional impact from individuals through neuroimaging studies. Put simply, if you want to impact
positively on the emotional reaction of visitors to your venue then psychology suggests the curvy
rooms and furniture are the way to go.

This whole area is one laden with research, and I look forward to continuing the theme next time when
I will look at why lighting, colour, views, temperature, and even the type of art you hang can affect
visitor experience. FM

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References

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2003). Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning.
New York: Penguin Group.
Danielsson, C. B. (2009). Difference in satisfaction with of ce environment among employees
in different of ce types. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 26 (3), 241-257.
Davis, M. C., Leach, D. J., & Clegg, C. W. (2011). The Physical Environment of the Of ce:
Contemporary and Emerging Issues. International Review of Industrial and Organizational
Psychology, 26(1), 193–237.
Dazkir, S. and Read, M. (2011). Furniture Forms and Their In uence on Our Emotional
Responses Toward Interior Environments. Environment and Behavior, 44(5), 722-732.
Easterbrook, M., & Vignoles, V. (2014). When friendship formation goes down the toilet:
Design features of shared accommodation in uence interpersonal bonds and well-being British
Journal of Social Psychology, 54(1), 125-139.
Kallio, T. J., Kallio, K-M., Blomberg , A. J. (2015). Physical space, culture and organisational
creativity – a longitudinal study, Facilities, 33 (5/6), 389 – 411.
Knight, C. & Haslam, S. A. (2010a). Your place or mine? Organizational identi cation and
comfort as mediators of relationships between the managerial control of workspace and
employees’ satisfaction and well-being. British Journal of Management, 21 (3,. 717-735.
Knight, C. & Haslam, S. A. (2010b). The relative merits of lean, enriched and empowered
of ces: An experimental examination of the impact of work space management strategies on
well-being and productivity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 16 (2), 158-172.
Levy, J. M. & Zhu, R. (2007). The in uence of ceiling height: The effect of priming on the type
of processing that people use. Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (2), 174-186.
Maher, A. & von Hippel, C. (2005). Individual differences in employee reactions to open-plan
of ces. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25 (2), 219-229.
McElroy, J.C., & Morrow, P.C. (2010). Employee reactions to office redesign: A naturally
occurring quasi-field experiment in a multi-generational setting. Human Relations, 63(5), 609–
639.
Okken, V., van Rompay, T. & Pruyn, A. (2013). Room to move: On spatial constraints and self-
disclosure during intimate conversations.  Environment and Behaviour, 45 (6), 737-760.
Vartaniana, O., Navarreteb, C, Chatterjeed, A., Brorson Fiche, L.,  Lederf, H., Modroñog, C.,
Nadalf, M., Rostruph, N., &  Skovi M. (2013). Impact of contour on aesthetic judgments and
approach-avoidance decisions in architecture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
110 (2), 10446-10453.

(Image: yornik Heyl (https://www. ickr.com/photos/yornik/5628843741/)/Creative Commons)

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