Responses to Six Major Terrestrial Biomes in Terms of Scenic Beauty, Preference, and Restorativeness

Abstract

This study examined 274 college students' psycho-physiological responses to the six major terrestrial biomes (desert, tundra, grassland, coniferous forest, deciduous forest, and tropical forest), while taking into account the influences of three perceived physical variables (complexity, openness, and water features) presented in the biomes. The purpose of the study was to examine which specific natural setting can evoke the most positive reactions from people. ANCOVA tests and post hoc comparisons using the setting scores across the participants' data on the responses to 48 biome slides regarding scenic beauty, preference, the Short-version Revised Perceived Restorativeness Scale and the Short-version Revised Restoration Scale were performed. The results indicated that tundra and coniferous forest were the most favored biomes, whereas desert and grassland were the least favored. These findings appeared to support the forest hypothesis rather than the long-held savanna hypothesis. In addition, the results of multiple regression analyses indicated that the three perceived physical factors explained 9% more variance of the respondents' reactions than the biome classification. This finding suggested that a nonhabitat-specific approach to environmental responses holds more promise than a habitat-specific approach.

The Impact of Fitness Center Servicescape on Individual Behavior: The Mediating Role of Emotional Response

“…A natural environment comprises of three restorative stimuli: being away, fascination and compatibility (Han, 2007). Being away helps people feel as if they are breaking free to a different place or experiencing a "getting away" moment in another world.…”

“…A person would want to be in a fascinating servicescape because something in it greatly captures his or her attention (Kaplan, 1995). Compatibility refers to a person's sense of belongingness or even attachment with the environment (Han, 2007;Kaplan, 1995;. A compatible environment is a pleasing environment such that customers are able to carry out activities smoothly, without struggle and without embarrassment to achieve their consumption goal.…”

Metsämaiseman kauneus ja metsänhoidon vaikutus koettuun maisemaan metsikkötasolla

“…) Ympäristön monimuotoisuus ja maiseman kauneus on kytketty monessa tutkimuksessa toisiinsa (esim. Han 2007;Ode ym. 2010).…”

The Visual Landscape: An Important and Poorly Conserved Resource

“…The high valuation of natural landscapes that contain forests can be explained because they are archetypal landscapes, evoking notions of deep time. HAN (2003HAN ( , 2007) makes reference to psychological relics from our evolutionary past, since these preferences can be explained by the critical phases of human evolution having taken place in forests rather than grass, meadow or savanna environments.…”