The Magical Power of Touched Objects Really Works, If You Believe

Research participants with intuitive thinking styles demonstrated higher creativity after handling papers supposedly touched by creative people and lower creativity after handling papers said to have been touched by less-creative people, say Thomas Kramer of the University of South Carolina and Lauren G. Block of the City University of New York. Those who believed the papers had been touched by creative people came up with about 67% more ways to use a paperclip than those who thought the papers had been touched by people with low creativity (there was no such effect among participants with highly rational thinking styles). The findings suggest that intuitive-minded employees may perform better on assigned tasks when using pens or computers previously used by creative or intelligent people, the researchers say.