The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use

This article demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can prime concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. We theorized that when rea-sonably salient, a high versus low ceiling can prime the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. These concepts, in turn, can prompt consumers ’ use of predominately relational versus item-specific processing. Three studies found support for this theorizing. On a variety of measures, ceiling height–induced re-lational or item-specific processing was indicated by people’s reliance on integrated and abstract versus discrete and concrete ideation. Hence, this research sheds light on when and how ceiling height can affect consumers ’ responses. There appears to be widespread belief that ceiling heightcan affect the quality of indoor consumption experi-ences. Fischl and Gärling (2004) found that ceiling height ranked among the top three architectural details that influ-enced consumers ’ psychological well-being. Much anec-dotal evidence also supports this view. A home development company that uses design ideas inspired by the guru of