Perception,Evaluation,and Performance in a Neat and Messy Room by High and Low Sensation Seekers

Abstract

Two studies investigated the effects of room environment. In Study 1, 42 men and women undergraduates, divided into high and low scorers on the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale, described and evaluated a neat or messy room on the basis of, in part, the Kasmar Environmental Description Scales. In Study 11, 56 high and low scoring sensation seekers performed three tasks in a neat or messy room. Low scorers evaluated the neat room more positively than high scorers, while high scorers rated the messy room more positively than low scorers. The rooms were described differently, in part, as a function of personality. Except for the rating of a representational painting, the evaluation of an abstract painting, the solution rate for anagrams, and elapsed time estimation did not vary as a function of room condition and personality. Sex differences vere also not found to be critical.