It is a universal truth, but it is often overlooked: The shower can be the place where you get great epiphanies.
There is an Dedicated entire sub-RedditThis is the result. It is why this environment seems to inspire such fascinating thoughts.
Scientists have debated for years about the’shower effect’ and its causes. Two new experiments have clarified some of these ambiguities.
Zac Irving, who studies cognitive science philosophy at the University of Virginia and led the latest experiments, suggested that concentration on a task might be the enemy of creativity.
Instead of thinking about a problem and trying to solve it, take a break. You may be able to let your mind wander without any direction or purpose, even though there are some limitations.
Research suggests that your brain is more likely to drift as you think.
However, a boring task doesn’t seem as restrictive as one that can inspire creativity. It’s more common to be distracted from the problem or continue thinking about it.
Irving, “Say you’re stuck with a problem.” This explains.
“What do YOU do? It’s probably not something boring and mindless like watching paint dry. Instead, you go for a walk or take a shower. These activities are all moderately entertaining.
Experiments on the shower effect have in the past produced inconsistent results. Some studiesWe have found that an “undemanding task” allows our brains to wander, allowing creativity to flow. But Other studiesHowever, they have not been able replicate the findings.
Irving believes that this is due to flaws in experimental design. Past studies have often confused mind wandering and boredom. In reality, unusual ideas can only be generated by a subtle balance of free thinking and focused thinking.
“They weren’t really measuring mind wandering,” Arguments Irving. “They measured how distracted they were.”
A StudyIn 2015, it was discovered that people who have too many thoughts about a task can find it difficult to get creative inspiration. Unconstrained thoughts can lead to unproductive thinking.
Additionally, past experiments used different distraction methods that didn’t translate well into the real world. For example, clicking numbers on a computer monitor.
Irving and his collaborators devised two more experiments to compensate for these limitations.
The first experiment involved 222 participants, most who were female. These participants were given 90 seconds in which to find alternative uses for a brick’ or paperclip.
The two tasks were then randomly assigned. The first group was asked to watch a three-minute-long, engaging scene. When Harry Met Sally.The second group meanwhile watched a three-minute video showing men folding laundry.
Both groups were given 45 seconds extra to finish their original task after the video intermission.
Researchers scored their creativity based upon the number of ideas that they generated and the novelty of those ideas.
Participants reported at the end how their minds wandered during the video segments.
The authors concluded that mind wandering during engaging videos was positively associated to more creative responses.
Mind wandering did not appear to drive the benefits of boredom. Participants had fewer ideas to share after watching the laundry video than the other group.
The authors wrote “Together” Final conclusion“These results suggest that different types of thinking lead to creative incubation during engaging tasks.” Boring tasks, on the other hand, can lead to creative mind wandering. However, engaging tasks can encourage productive thinking.
The second experiment involved 118 participants. This time, one group was explicitly told they would return to the original task following the video. While the other was given only a vague hint that this might be the case, the intention was to repeat the first experiment.
Participants reported their enjoyment of the videos afterward.
The second experiment confirms the central findings of the first. Namely, they suggest that mind wandering—or freely moving thought—facilitates the generation of novel ideas, “But only when you are engaged in moderately challenging activities that place some constraints on your thought.”
Participants who knew that they must return to the original task generated more ideas in the boring video, but had lower creativity scores.
This means that they were still thinking back to the original laundry task. The movie scene on the other hand was just distracting enough for participants to be able to make interesting connections between them.
Although further research is necessary to determine the ‘why” of the shower effect’, these results provide a better understanding of ‘how mildly engaging tasks such as showering can be used to generate creative ideas in the real world.
The study was published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
