The Secret Key to Creativity

While we’ve always had a hunch that getting out from behind your desk is the key ingredient to creativity, a new study from the Journal of Experimental Psychology actually proves it.

As Deborah Netburn reports in the LA Times, this study from Santa Clara University psychology professor Marily Oppezzo and Stanford’s Daniel Shwartz put this assumption to the test, asking participants to brainstorm nontraditional uses for common objects such as a tire or button (Lilliputian strainer, anyone?). As Netburn reports:

Oppezzo defined a creative response as one that was both appropriate (a button could not be used as a light bulb, for example) and original, meaning no one else in the study had said it. 

In the first experiment, volunteers were given four minutes to complete the creativity test — first while sitting at a desk in a small room, and then while walking on a treadmill. Of the 48 participants in the study, 81% improved their creative output when walking. 

After controlling for things like volume of ideas versus creativity, increase in overall brainpower versus creativity, indoor walking versus outdoor walking, and creativity while walking versus creativity after walking, Oppezzo’s study concludes three things:

1. It is specifically creative thought — not overall brainpower — that improves while walking.
2. The impact of walking on creativity can linger past the walk.
3. The setting does not matter as much as the physical movement: Walking inside and walking outside both positively impact creativity.

The key takeaway: A quick walk before your next brainstorm or creative strategy session may just be the boost you need to look at things a little bit differently.