The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

by Annie Murphy Paul

When we engage in such “environmental self-regulation,” we rely on cues outside ourselves to maintain the kind of equilibrium inside ourselves that facilitates the pursuit of our goals. In a study of mid-level professionals, Gregory Laurence, a professor of management at the University of Michigan–Flint, found that incorporating personal items into their workspaces helped them relieve the “emotional exhaustion” brought on by a stressful job. Especially for employees whose office settings did not afford much privacy, being able to personalize their work area—with photographs, posters, comic strips, mugs—helped them “carve out their own space, inscribe it with personal meaning, and thus create a kind of sanctuary at work,” write Laurence and his coauthors.