Esteky and colleagues linked what floor we’re on in a building and our response to financial risks – being even a few stories higher or lower in a building produces a noticeable effect on how humans think. The researchers determined that “high physical elevation increases risk-seeking tendencies.” The effect is stronger when elevation is something people are aware of because they look out of a window. The investigators also report that “In an unpublished study, we found that consumers at higher (vs. lower) elevations are more likely to consume juice from an unfamiliar (vs. familiar) fruit. We interpret this finding as evidence that consumers at higher elevations are more like to take sensory risks than are their counterparts at lower elevations.”
Sina Esteky, Jean Wineman, and David Wooten. “The Influence of Physical Elevation in Buildings on Risk Preferences: Evidence from a Pilot and Four Field Studies.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, in press, DOI: 10.1002/jcpy.1024
Sally Augustin, PhD,a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.