Working From A Coffee Shop: How Crowd Helps Us Be Sharper And More Creative

Photo illustration in a coffee shop (The Creative Exchange / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - My lay and personal guesses about why working in a coffee shop feel more productive and creative are affirmed. Not only based on history but also through scientific research.

Historically, we know, some of the world's leading creative figures did their best work in coffee shops. Call it JK Rowling, Bob Dylan, even Pablo Picasso, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Whether you are a painter, writer, philosopher or student, for example. COVID-19 has changed the life habits of many people. Work at home is becoming commonplace for some.

Others are addicted to coffee shops, how little crowds, casual noise, and visual variations combined trigger our concentration and creativity to become sharper. So actually all the stimulus in the head does not happen because of the double espresso you ordered.

Far from noisy and crowded

Some of us stick to earbuds as soon as we sit down to work in a public place. But scientists have known for years that noise from the crowd behind us can benefit our creative thinking.

A 2012 study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that low to moderate environmental noise levels in places, such as cafeterias can actually improve your creative output.

The idea is that if you get a little distracted from the task at hand by ambient stimuli, it increases your abstract thinking skills, which can lead to the generation of more creative ideas.

Another study from 2019, which had similar findings, targeted the so-called "stochastic resonance." The study originally looked at animals, exhibiting reactions to phenomena in which the right amount of noise benefits our senses.

And while 'Goldilocks' noise levels are different for everyone, background audio stimulation also helps improve decision making. In fact, those who are aware of this impact are familiar with the term "coffee shop effect."

So jazz music, light conversation, and barista coffee grounds from the grinder are not a distraction. All of that can help you create your next masterpiece.

Visual variations

One thing that can make working from home and office overwhelming is the visual environment. Often times we sit in the same chair and look at the same four walls over and over again.

The combination of noise, casual crowd, and visual variation can provide us with the right amount of distraction to help us be our sharpest and most creative.

“Visual stimulation, how the office is decorated has an effect on people's creative thinking processes. (It's) called convergent creative thinking, ”said Sunkee Lee, assistant professor of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, Pennsylvania, in the study.

Lee, in research found that visual variation helps in "solving problems that have the optimal solution, but require you to think outside the box." While Lee tried to get around this by adding fluorescent lights to the walls of his home office during the pandemic, he soon discovered that the odd furnishings were quickly becoming familiar and boring.

However, coffee shops generally have visual stimulation in spades. And visiting a different coffee shop each time makes things even more varied.