Nature and Human Nature
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Measuring landscape preferences
o
Ecological approach
o
Descriptive approach
Emphasizes basic elements of design
Line, form, color, texture
Contrasts in natural landscapes are pleasing
o
Physical-perceptual approach
Empirical
o
Psychological approach
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Kaplan & Kaplan
o
Coherence
o
Legibility
o
Complexity
o
Mystery
These things are favored by people, and it makes evolutionary
sense
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Biophilia Hypothesis
o
Love of the biosphere
o
We prefer natural landscapes due to history (evolution)
E.O. Wilson
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Biophobias- intense irrational fears about things that make
evolutionary sense
o
Fetishes
Rachman (1976)- conditioned women’s objects and erotic pictures
o
Ulrich (1979)- students were more at ease for a test when they were shown
nature scenes
o
Ulrich (1984)- less complications in hospital if there’s nature outside the
window
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Experience
o
Hartig et al (1991)
Identified a group of backpackers
Self-selected amongst themselves between:
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Backpacking trip
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Car vacation
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Staying home
Monitored them for a 4-7 day period
Assessed: happiness and attention
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Being in nature supposedly benefits both
Backpackers weren’t immediately happier, but were 1-2 days later
Backpackers scored higher on the attention task
o
Hartig et al
Randomly assigned college students to either:
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A nature walk
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An urban walk
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Relax with a magazine in a comfortable chair
Nature walk people had to ride in a van for about half an hour to
get there
Urban walkers had to ride in a van, but for a shorter distance
Both terrains were generally the same, except in different
environments
The people on the nature walk were happier than those in both
other conditions
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They also reported less anger and aggression
No differences in physiological arousal
o
Hartig et al (2003)
Attention depleting task: proof-reading or some task to make
participants tired, reduce their attention capacity
They walked through either a natural or an urban environment
Measured attention, mood, and blood pressure
Used random assignment and controls
Involved actual experience
Variables were similar, because no travel was involved this time
Natural environment walkers had increased attention and mood
and lower blood pressure both with and without the ADT
o
Van den Berg et al (2003)
Participants viewed “Faces of Death #1”, a movie with images of
animals being slaughtered
They then viewed either an urban or natural environment movie,
walking through either area
Measured: attention, how they felt about the environment, affective
restoration (mood)
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Pre/post walk movie moods were measured
Nature movie resulted in better attention and mood
o
Type of environment (A)
affective restoration
ratings of
environment (B)
Data was consistent with this path model
A
B because A changes the amount of affective restoration that
occurs
o
Existential Terror
Fear of death
Achieve permanence:
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- Fall '07
- ALLEN
- Psychology, mental health, Natural environment, Light therapy, social contact
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