The science of clutter: It’s not just about ‘too much stuff’

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Published Date 8/29/2023

Chaos is not what most of us would consider pleasant. If you really think about it, clutter isn’t all that much of a departure from it. Most of us dislike clutter. Cornell University’s Dr. Cornell Travers reveals a study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that asked 60 women to give some researchers a tour of their home. Those who believed that their home was cluttered were more likely to feel constantly tired and exhibit symptoms of depression. They found that these effects were tied to the hormone cortisol, which plays a role in how we respond to stress.

“Clutter combined with a sense of having no control over it can also lead us to make bad decisions,” says Travers. “A 2016 study published in Environment and Behavior explored how our mindset around a chaotic kitchen causes some people to make poor food choices. Specifically, the study found that when people felt no control over the clutter and chaos in their kitchen, they ate more cookies than when they felt they were not in control of their kitchen.”

It seems evident that a cluttered environment can go from an aesthetic non-preference to a serious lifestyle issue — perhaps causing us to make excuses for not getting things done, such as skipping workouts, for example.

It has been found that decluttering can help with depression, reduce unhealthy cravings, and decrease fatigue. The most pronounced positive effect of decluttering, however, may be a feeling of lightness and increased productivity. Travers identifies a reason why that might be the case.

Think of how, when you have clean, clear countertops in your kitchen, you tend to want to start cooking or baking something. Why? Because less clutter means more brain power for real tasks, according to Travers. “You may have heard (or experienced for yourself) that we work better when we have less physical clutter around us.”

He goes on to offer a neuroscientific explanation. “A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience examines how the human brain processes high-clutter environments and suggests that decluttering your surroundings could be one way to ensure that your limited mental bandwidth is put to its best use. When we look at clutter, our brains try to identify the most relevant information that will help us achieve our immediate goals."

Travers refers to this information as the “attentional set.” “When our goals change, our brains need to suppress the old attentional set and switch focus to a new attentional set, which consumes brain power.”

This research showed how participants’ brains reacted when they looked at pictures of different objects and found that when people were looking for a certain type of object (the target), their brains paid more attention to that type of object and less attention to other types of objects (the distracters) that used to be important but weren’t anymore. “Clearing the deck,” so to speak? Makes sense.

“The more your field of vision is filled with objects that have nothing to do with your goal, the harder your brain has to work to keep each of them out of the attentional set,” says Travers. “This can lead to fatigue and may cause us to feel lazy and be less productive than we are capable of being.”

An uncluttered environment (let’s refer to it as “minimalist”) offers your brain fewer things on which to focus, allowing it to allocate more resources to the task at hand.

Travers concludes that cleaning your home or surroundings isn't just a physical process. It’s a mental one as well. “Reducing clutter minimizes distractions, allowing your brain to concentrate on more important tasks,” he says. “The act of organizing your space can also provide a sense of control and order, which can alleviate feelings of stress and promote a sense of well-being.”

PsychologyToday, TBWS

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