An extremely cluttered personal space seems to lead people to believe that the owner of that space is more neurotic and less pleasant, according to new research. Psychologists explored the degree of chaos in one's workspace and how it affects the owner's perception of personality. In three experiments, approximately 160 participants were randomly assigned to sit at a desk that was clean and tidy, or in another office that was "somewhat" or "very" cluttered.
All the offices were furnished identically to suggest it was owned by a male researcher. They contain various personal items such as a baseball cap on a door hook, a jar of candy, a baby photo and science books and academic journals in a bookcase.
In the tidy office (Office A), the papers were neatly arranged on the desk, books and magazines stood upright on the bookshelves, file drawers had typed labels, and all the trash was in the trash. The “slightly” cluttered office (office B in experiment 1) had books slanted on the shelves, a textbook and papers on the floor, and a wall clock that was an hour behind schedule. The "very" cluttered office (office B in experiments 2 and 3) seemed even filthier, more disorganized and more cluttered.
The participants tried to guess the researcher's personality based on the appearance of the office:the person's extroversion (social), acceptability, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. In each experiment, participants thought that the office B researcher (messy office) was less conscientious than the office A (organized office).
In everyday life, if people think that a person can be carefree, cranky and carefree because their office is very messy, these impressions can then influence how – or even whether – they decide to treat them in the future, either on a personal or professional basis, the researchers say.
In experiments 2 and 3, the participants also thought that the researcher B in the office was less pleasant and neurotic than the researcher in the office A. The cluttered offices led some participants to believe that the owner had one or more negative personality traits.
The researchers said that from an observer's perspective, high neuroticism, low conscientiousness, and low acceptability could potentially be observed in an employee's undesirable traits.
