Psychology says employees with messy desks may actually come up with fresh ideas, but keeping them tidy has also a major advantage

If you've ever judged a coworker by the pile of papers, coffee mugs, and sticky notes covering their desk, psychology suggests you may want to think twice. While tidy workspaces are often associated with discipline and productivity, research indicates that a little clutter could actually help people think more creatively and generate fresh ideas.

A study led by Kathleen D. Vohs of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, published in the journal Psychological Science in 2013, found that disorderly environments can encourage unconventional thinking and creativity, while orderly environments tend to promote healthier choices, generosity, and conventional behavior.

A messy desk may spark original thinking

For the study, Vohs and colleagues Joseph P. Redden and Ryan Rahinel conducted three experiments comparing people's behavior in tidy and cluttered rooms. In one experiment involving 48 American participants, volunteers were asked to think of as many new uses as possible for ping-pong balls, a classic creativity test. Those working in a messy room consistently produced more creative responses than those seated in a neat workspace.

While discussing the results the researchers wrote, it supported their 'prediction that sitting in a messy, disorderly room would stimulate more creative ideas than sitting in a tidy, orderly room.'" The participants didn't simply produce more ideas; they generated ideas that independent judges rated as significantly more creative.

Why clutter may help creativity

According to the researchers, disorder appears to encourage people to break away from convention and explore new possibilities instead of following familiar patterns. "Our preferred explanation... is that cues of disorder can produce creativity because they inspire breaking free of convention," the authors wrote.

The researchers concluded that disorderly environments "seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights," whereas orderly environments encourage convention and "playing it safe." That may explain why some innovators and creative professionals are comfortable working in environments that appear chaotic to others.

But tidy desks have their own advantages

The researchers stress that the findings do not suggest messy workspaces are universally better. In another experiment, participants in an orderly room were more than twice as likely to donate money to charity than those in a cluttered room. They also made healthier food choices, choosing an apple over a chocolate bar significantly more often.

A third experiment found that tidy environments made participants more likely to prefer familiar or "classic" options, while cluttered rooms increased people's preference for new and novel choices.

It's about matching the environment to the task

Rather than declaring one type of workspace superior, the study suggests different environments support different goals. "Orderly environments promote convention and healthy choices," the researchers wrote, while "disorderly environments stimulate creativity."

Summing up their findings, the authors concluded: "Our systematic investigations revealed that both kinds of settings can enable people to harness the power of these environments to achieve their goals."