An occasion for unselfing: Beautiful nature leads to prosociality

Seeing our self reflected in the world around us: The role of identity in making (natural) environments restorative

“…The third study used the more standard form of this manipulation to vary the salience of different are all adequately powered to at least detect main effects of exposure to natural versus urban images based on the assumption of medium effect sizes. Moreover, our sample sizes were healthy compared to those reported in previous research testing restorative effects of exposure to natural versus urban images (e.g., Berman et al, 2009;Berto, 2005;Ryan et al, 2010), and comparable to studies that have specifically tested interactive effects that might qualify these (e.g., Weinstein et al, 2009;Zhang, Piff, Iyer, Koleva, & Keltner, 2014). The city is well known for both its architecture (in particular, the 15 th century cathedral) and the surrounding countryside (in particular, Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks).…”

“…Although some research has adopted an interactive perspective like ours, the moderators investigated remain relatively unspecified from a theoretical perspective. For example, although self-reported immersion (Ryan et al, 2010;Weinstein et al, 2009) and individual differences in the perceived beauty of nature (Zhang et al, 2014) have been shown to moderate effects of exposure to natural images, past theory does not specify the origins of individual differences in immersion and perceived beauty and their specific psychological underpinnings. Indeed, others have critiqued the use of measured individual difference variables, and the ability to draw causal conclusions based on these, in this kind of research (Kaiser, Otto & Schuler, 2015).…”

Bodies in nature: Associations between exposure to nature, connectedness to nature, and body image in U.S. adults

“…Perrin & Benasi, 2009). For example, previous work has reported that the correlation between exposure to nature and connectedness to nature tends to be moderate-to-strong (e.g., Kamitsis & Francis, 2013;Zhang, Howell, & Iyer, 2014), suggesting that, although there is some measurement overlap, the constructs are sufficiently different to have independent effects on outcome measures (Zhang, Piff, et al, 2014). More broadly, identifying independent associations between connectedness to nature and nature exposure, respectively, and body image may highlight different routes to leveraging therapeutic benefits (e.g., spending time in nature versus promoting connectedness to nature).…”

Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention

“…Indeed, evidence from experimental studies demonstrates that participants primed with flowers are more likely to help strangers (Guéguen, Meineri, & Stefan, 2012), give money to others (Raihani & Bshary, 2012;Stillman & Hensley, 1980), act gregariously (Haviland-Jones, Rosario, Wilson, & McGuire, 2005), and feel attracted to someone they have just met (Guéguen, 2011(Guéguen, , 2012. Trait nature connectedness is positively associated with humanitarianism (Nisbet et al, 2009), social wellbeing (Howell, Dopko, Passmore, & Buro, 2011;Howell, Passmore, & Buro, 2013), kindness (Leary et al, 2008), empathic concern (Zhang, Piff, Iyer, Koleva, & Keltner, 2014), altruistic concern (Schultz, 2001), and perspective taking (Schultz, 2001).…”

“…In experimental studies, appropriate control conditions need to be selected: a task made difficult without widely accepted or explicitly stated definitions of nature itself. Some research has already suggested that particularly beautiful, awesome, or immersive nature experiences provide additional benefits over more mundane nature stimuli (Joye & Bolderdijk, 2014;Weinstein et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2014), though other work does not seem to rely on using particularly extraordinary exemplars of nature. Beyond obviously phobic natural stimuli (e.g., snakes), untamed wilderness may generate anxiety or thoughts of death, at least for some (Koole & Van den Berg, 2005).…”