Hello fellow creators,
What if I told you that your physical space can impact your creative thinking?
Imagine walking into a grand cathedral. The ceilings stretch high above, the space feels massive, and somehow your mind feels a little more open too. This isn’t just a feeling, it’s a psychological concept known as The Cathedral Effect which relates to how our environments shape our creativity.
In this week’s post we will talk about how this notion plays a role in our creative thinking and what are some of the minor changes we can initiate in our environments to boost our creative outputs.
It is the idea that high ceilings can promote more abstract, imaginative thinking, while low ceilings encourage detailed, focused thinking. It’s named after how cathedrals are built with its sky rise high ceilings evoking a sense of openness and inspiration.
This concept was explored in-depth in a 2007 study by Joan Meyers-Levy and Rui Zhu titled “The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use.” Their research found that:
“High ceilings prime concepts of freedom, which in turn promote relational and abstract processing. Conversely, low ceilings prime confinement, leading to item-specific, more focused thinking.”
In a series of experiments, participants were unknowingly placed in rooms with either high or low ceilings and asked to complete various tasks. Those in high-ceiling rooms were more likely to group ideas conceptually, spot bigger-picture relationships, and show more creative ideation. Meanwhile, low-ceiling environments produced more analytical and concrete responses.
This doesn’t mean one is better than the other infact this outlines the two different thinking modes which are central to every creative process. When engaged in solving any problem and flexing our creative brain muscles, we always begin with going deep and wide in terms of coming up with various ideas or potential solutions. This is called divergent thinking where we expand our minds and think of many different possibilities and approaches for solving our problem. Once we have an ample amount of ideas than there comes a point where we should consider thinking with more focus and analysis. This mode is called convergent thinking when we start evaluating all those ideas and begin thinking of their implementation feasibility.
The use of these two thinking modes, in the problem solving process, can be related to the finding of this research where high ceiling spaces can benefit divergent thinking and low ceiling can do the same for convergent thinking. So if you are looking for new ideas, just start by looking up, literally!
At its core, creativity thrives on openness to experience. Openness and willingness to expose ourselves to new experiences is a personality trait that is a strong predictor of our creative potential. It portrays curiosity, imagination and eagerness to learn and experiment with new domains. All of these are key determinants of a creative behaviour.
Now here’s the interesting part: the Cathedral Effect isn’t just architectural, it’s psychological. When this phenomenon talks about thinking in a high ceiling space, it not only reflects an expansion in the physical space but also an extension in our minds. This growth comes with more unique and diverse experiences. The more open you are to making yourself available to try out different things the more it allows you to gain knowledge hence enabling your brain to create more unique connections, which helps generate new ideas. What is in an experience, you ask? An experience could be anything. From learning a new skill, trying out a sport going on a new adventure or travel to coming up with a new dinner recipe one Saturday night. Its anything and everything that you are trying out for the first time. This engagement creates a spark of curiosity about what the outcome might be and how it is going to be formed. It allows us to learn something new which is a very strong basis in our journey towards creativity.
So the more open you are to try out different things, the more creative you are going to be.
The spaces we inhabit shape how we think. If you’re looking to foster creativity in your work or personal projects, consider how your environment plays a role. Here are a few simple ideas to apply the Cathedral Effect:
You don’t need to visit Notre-Dame to experience the Cathedral Effect.
You can create your own version, wherever you are. After reading this post if there is one key takeaway for you, it is this: “Sometimes, to unlock creative freedom, you need to give your thoughts, room to rise”.
Let your ideas soar.
Keep creating!