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    READING 3 - Evidence and Examples TEXT

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    Belinda Sam
    The document discusses research that shows how coffee shops can trigger creativity in a way that working from home or offices does not. Studies have found that the low-to-moderate background noise, visual stimulation, and presence of other people working in coffee shops can boost creative thinking. The "coffee shop effect" refers to how being slightly distracted in these environments allows the right amount of distraction to help people be more creative. While many had to work from home during the pandemic, experts believe the benefits of the "coffee shop effect" will bring people back to working in coffee shops in a post-Covid world.

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    READING 3 - Evidence and Examples TEXT

    Uploaded by

    Belinda Sam
    12 views2 pages
    The document discusses research that shows how coffee shops can trigger creativity in a way that working from home or offices does not. Studies have found that the low-to-moderate background noise, visual stimulation, and presence of other people working in coffee shops can boost creative thinking. The "coffee shop effect" refers to how being slightly distracted in these environments allows the right amount of distraction to help people be more creative. While many had to work from home during the pandemic, experts believe the benefits of the "coffee shop effect" will bring people back to working in coffee shops in a post-Covid world.

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    3. READING 3 - Evidence and Examples TEXT

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    The document discusses research that shows how coffee shops can trigger creativity in a way that working from home or offices does not. Studies have found that the low-to-moderate background noise, visual stimulation, and presence of other people working in coffee shops can boost creative thinking. The "coffee shop effect" refers to how being slightly distracted in these environments allows the right amount of distraction to help people be more creative. While many had to work from home during the pandemic, experts believe the benefits of the "coffee shop effect" will bring people back to working in coffee shops in a post-Covid world.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    12 views2 pages

    READING 3 - Evidence and Examples TEXT

    Uploaded by

    Belinda Sam
    The document discusses research that shows how coffee shops can trigger creativity in a way that working from home or offices does not. Studies have found that the low-to-moderate background noise, visual stimulation, and presence of other people working in coffee shops can boost creative thinking. The "coffee shop effect" refers to how being slightly distracted in these environments allows the right amount of distraction to help people be more creative. While many had to work from home during the pandemic, experts believe the benefits of the "coffee shop effect" will bring people back to working in coffee shops in a post-Covid world.

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    David J.

    Hamilton READING 3: Evidence and Examples Advanced English

    P1. Some of the most successful people in history have done


    their best work in coffee shops. Pablo Picasso, JK Rowling, Bob
    Dylan – whether they’re painters, authors, or singer-songwriters
    people become creative when working at a table in a café. Putting on
    your noise-cancelling headphones to work at the desk at home is
    actually different than doing the same surrounded by other people
    buzzing over your shoulder. There are many ways coffee shops
    trigger our creativity in a way offices and homes don’t. Research
    shows that the stimuli in these places make them effective
    environments to work; the combination of noise, casual crowds and
    visual variety can give us just the right amount of distraction to help
    us be our sharpest and most creative.

    P2. But scientists have known for years that background noise
    can benefit our creative thinking. A 2012 study published in the
    Journal of Consumer Research showed that a low-to-moderate level
    of ambient noise can increase your creativity. The study suggests that
    if you’re very slightly distracted from your work, it boosts your
    creative thinking. This has been called, “the coffee shop effect”.
    Additionally, we are motivated because we are surrounded by people
    who are doing the same thing as us. “It’s like to going to the gym for
    a workout,” says Sunkee Lee, an assistant professor of organisational
    theory and strategy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School
    of Business in Pennsylvania. “You see other people working and it
    motivates you to work harder.”

    P3. One thing that can making working from home or the office
    feel onerous is the visual environment; often we sit in the same chair
    and look at the same four walls without reprieve. “Visual stimulation
    David J. Hamilton READING 3: Evidence and Examples Advanced English

    – how the office is decorated – has an effect on people’s creative


    thinking process,” says Lee. In his research, he found that visual
    variety helps in “thinking outside the box to solve a problem”. Coffee
    shops, though, generally have lots of visual stimuli. “Even if you
    think that you are working alone with your headphones there are still
    things going on around you, including smells, lighting, movement,
    and sounds,” says Korydon Smith, a professor of architecture at the
    University of Buffalo in New York.

    P4. Furthermore, experts say these café settings don’t only


    benefit individuals, but can also benefit groups. “In contrast to
    offices or digital meeting platforms like Zoom, coffee shops have an
    informal atmosphere,” says Smith. “The audio and visual stimuli in
    coffee shops also help groups, and because the atmosphere is better
    people can be more creative,” says architect Kelly Hayes McAlonie,
    director of campus planning at the University of Buffalo. She says
    that university campuses, like open-air offices, have used coffee shop
    design to encourage students and workers to gather and be creative.
    However, one disadvantage of these spaces is that they can be noisier
    and busier than coffee shops. Therefore, they don’t exactly replicate
    the creative atmosphere of your favourite coffee shop.

    P5. The effects of Covid-19 have meant that people in many


    countries have had to find ways to be productive at home rather than
    coffee shops. In 2020, Social-network management company Buffer
    surveyed 3,500 remote workers around the world and found that 80%
    of them prefer to work at home, instead of offices or coffee shops.
    However, Lee believes that, in a post-Covid world, people will
    remember the ‘coffee-shop effect’, which will bring people back to
    working in coffee shops. “No doubt about it, we’re going to go back
    because there are many benefits to coffee shop working.” “And the
    coffee is better, too!” adds Smith.

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