CREATIVE PLACES: Janetta Mitchell McCoy Debarati Majumdar Narayan Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA IAPS 2004 Vienna, Austria Articulating the Pleasure-Arousal Hypothesis

Creative Team Places Highly Creative Teams  Control = govern workspace with own rules  Meaning = display evidence of previous creativity  Opportunity = task support McCoy, 2000; 2004

Question Is there a relationship between affective appraisal of a place and the extent to which that place supports or hinders creativity? Three phases  Unusual Uses of a Brick Test  Affective appraisal of places  Collage-making Majumdar Narayan, 2004 Creative Learning Environments

Findings  Places rated pleasant – increase in creativity score  Places rated unpleasant – decrease in creativity score Majumdar Narayan, 2004 Creative Learning Environments

The Questions PREFER  Where do you PREFER to go to reach your highest level of creative thinking? AVOID  Where do you AVOID going if you need to reach your highest level of creative thinking?

The Sample - Support AgeNumber Under & above2 Total514 GenderNumber Male35 Female108 Total143 MajorNumber CAED391 Researchers16 Designers85 Non-designers48 Total540

The Sample - Barrier AgeNumber Under & above2 Total140 GenderNumber Male35 Female108 Total143 MajorNumber CAED66 Researchers19 Designers58 Non-designers2 Total145

Russell – Lanius Model

Three-dimensional Model Unpleasant Pleasant Not Arousing Arousing High Dominance Low Dominance

Analysis HD LD HD LD HD LD HD PleasantUnpleasant Not Arousing Arousing

Statistical Findings Age and PlaceN = 411Chi-square = 12.44, df=6 Cramer's V=.17, p=.05 Gender and PlaceN = 121Chi-square = 0.66, df=1 Cramer's V=.07, NS Major and PlaceN = 435Chi-square = 4.77, df=3 Cramer's V=.11, NS Support Age and PlaceN = 105Chi-square = 2.75, df=6 Cramer's V=.16, NS Gender and PlaceN = 108Chi-square = 0.10, df=1 Cramer's V=.03, NS Major and PlaceN = 109Chi-square = 3.05, df=3 Cramer's V=.17, NS Barrier

Place and Age SupportBarrier

Place and Gender BarrierSupport

Place and Major BarrierSupport

Places “I’m least likely to be creative in a static environment, like a classroom that is always the same….” (F, 19, Interior Design) “A semi-covered area looking over a garden or a water body with a chair and a table”. (M, 28, Building Design) SupportBarrier High dominance, Not-arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Arousing, Unpleasant

Places “I definitely cannot go to the mall or shopping centers if I need to be creative”. (F, 27, Design Practitioner) “When my environment creates an emotion or feeling in me”. (M, 34, Interior Design) SupportBarrier High dominance, Arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Not-arousing, Unpleasant

Places “In my office….any time”. (M, 57, Design Practitioner) “Usually in transition from one place to another where I can think both subconsciously and consciously – walking from place to place”. (F, 30, Researcher) SupportBarrier High dominance, Arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Not-arousing, Unpleasant

Places “When I’m indulging myself with some good food”. (F, 21, Interior Design) “In my car, parked at the beach with the windows down so I can hear the waves, feel the breeze and smell the ocean”. (F, 47, Non-Designer) SupportBarrier High dominance, Not-arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Arousing, Pleasant

Places “At lunch with Mom”. (F, 40, Researcher) “Sitting with one or a small group of people, somewhere comfortable, discussing the topic in question and bouncing ideas back and forth…”. (F, 20, Architecture) SupportBarrier High dominance, Arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Not-arousing, unpleasant

Places “Alone in a library with no ventilation under fluorescent lights and uncomfortable seating/table”. (M, 36, Design Practitioner) “Coffee shop – lots of people; natural light; seats; large tables; plants; not alone; soft music; creative/ enthusiastic people...uncontrolled”. (M, 32, Design Practitioner) SupportBarrier High dominance, Arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Arousing, Unpleasant

Places “On the street; noisy; traffic jam…” (F, 25, Design Practitioner) “On the ‘John’”. (M, 58, Researcher) SupportBarrier High dominance, Not-arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Not-arousing, unpleasant

Places “On an escalator, going down” (F, 47, Design Practitioner) “Alone, usually riding my horse”. (F, 18, Non-designer) SupportBarrier High dominance, Arousing, PleasantLow dominance, Arousing, Unpleasant

Conclusions Creative Creative places are:  Highly pleasant  Moderately arousing  Affords high dominance Uncreative Uncreative places are:  Unpleasant  Non-arousing or too arousing  Affords low dominance