Comment by tomtheelder

I'm one of those people. I've done two jobs where I wasn't in an open office, one was a cubicle, one was a private office. Both times I felt very lonely and disconnected, and my motivation suffered greatly.

If I needed maximize output for a single day then I'd probably choose a private office, but over a long period of time it definitely hurts me. So the answer to "do I work better or just feel better about it" is: both.

That said, I feel I'm on the extreme end here as I would also cite loneliness and isolation as the single biggest drawback of being an engineer. I think many engineers would list the ability to work alone on your own stuff as a plus.