Chances are good that you know one or more people with cluttered workspaces. Chances are also good that you've heard an old adage that disarray fosters creativity. Odd as it might seem, there is some truth to that aphorism.

Carlson School of Management Marketing faculty Joe Redden and Kathleen Vohs studied this possibility in laboratory experiments as part of a larger examination of the effects of office environments on employees' preferences, choices, and behavior.

"Physical Order Produces Healthy Choices, Generosity, Conventionality, Whereas Disorder Produces Creativity"
Vohs, K., Redden, J., Rahinel, R., Psychological Science (in press)

Learn more at http://carlsonschool.umn.edu/news/clutter-conformity-and-creativity-work