The Restorative Qualities of Being Alone with Nature

Korpela, Kalevi; Staats, Henk

doi:10.1002/9781118427378.ch20

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The experience of connecting with nature was important to at least half the interviewees, many of whom shared that being alone in nature was their preference, rather than in the company of others. This aligns with studies pointing to the restorative effect of nature on wellbeing (Korpela & Staats, 2014), and positive associations between wellbeing, mindfulness, and nature connectedness (Capaldi, Dopko, & Zelenski, 2014;Howell, Dopko, Passmore, & Buro, 2011).…”

Section: Strategies For Staying Well Despite Cultural Normssupporting

confidence: 86%

A Qualitative Exploration of Individual Differences in Wellbeing for Highly Sensitive Individuals

Black¹

2019

Preprint

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Cultures explicitly and implicitly create and reinforce social norms and expectations, which impact upon how individuals make sense of and experience their place within that culture. Substantial differences in research findings across a range of behavioral and cognitive indices can be seen between what have been called ‘Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD)’ societies, and non-WEIRD cultures. Indeed, lay conceptions and social norms around wellbeing tend to emphasize social outgoingness and high-arousal positive emotions, with introversion and negative emotion looked down upon or even pathologized. However, this extravert-centric conception of wellbeing does not fit many individuals who live within WEIRD societies, and studies find that this mismatch can have detrimental effects on their wellbeing. There is a need to better understand how happiness is created and experienced by the large number of people for whom wellbeing manifests in alternative ways. This study investigated one such manifestation – the personality trait of Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) – qualitatively investigating how sensitive individuals experience and cultivate wellbeing within a WEIRD society. Twelve adults participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that highly sensitive individuals perceive that wellbeing arises from harmony across multiple dimensions. Interviewees emphasized the value of low-intensity positive emotion, self-awareness, self-acceptance, positive social relationships balanced by times of solitude, connecting with nature, contemplative practices, emotional self-regulation, practicing self-compassion, having a sense of meaning, and hope/optimism. Barriers of wellbeing included physical health issues and challenges with saying no to others. This study provides a richer idiographic representation of SPS wellbeing, highlighting diverse pathways which can lead to wellbeing for individuals for whom wellbeing manifests in ways that contradict the broader social narratives in which they reside.

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Section: Strategies For Staying Well Despite Cultural Normssupporting

confidence: 86%

A Qualitative Exploration of Individual Differences in Wellbeing for Highly Sensitive Individuals

Black¹

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A possible explanation for the absence of a buffering effect could be the social context of the group walks themselves. People prefer being alone in nature when they are in need of attentional recovery [145], and when they are experiencing emotional or cognitive stress [146]. Part of the reason for why nature can be restorative is the absence of social feedback [146,147].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…People prefer being alone in nature when they are in need of attentional recovery [145], and when they are experiencing emotional or cognitive stress [146]. Part of the reason for why nature can be restorative is the absence of social feedback [146,147]. This is because social interaction can make demands on directed attention [148], and pull one’s attention away from the natural environment [146,149].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Resilience through Interaction with Nature: Can Group Walks in Nature Buffer the Effects of Stressful Life Events on Mental Health?

Marselle

Warber

Irvine

2019

IJERPH

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Nature-based activities have been used as therapeutic interventions for those experiencing stress and mental ill health. This study investigates whether group walks could be a nature-based intervention to foster resilience, by buffering the effects of recent stressful life events on mental health. An observational research design with propensity score-matched samples compared the mental health of individuals who did (Nature Group Walkers, n = 1081) or did not (Non-Group Walkers, n = 435) attend nature group walks. A sub-sample of Frequent Nature Group Walkers (at least once per week, n = 631) was also investigated. Data were analyzed using multiple regression with an interaction term. All analyses were controlled for age, gender, and recent physical activity. Results showed that neither nature group walking, nor doing this frequently, moderated the effects of stressful life events on mental health. Using a main effects model, the positive associations of group walks in nature were at a greater magnitude than the negative associations of stressful life events on depression, positive affect, and mental well-being, suggesting an ‘undoing’ effect of nature group walks. Group walking schemes in natural environments may be an important public health promotion intervention for mental health.

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“…For example, Scopelliti and Giuliani (2004) found that natural and built environments can have similar restorative potentials and whether they do depends on the environments’ social and affective dimensions. An interesting agenda for future research would be to expand on existing research (for a review, see Korpela and Staats, 2014) into how social (e.g., other people’s presence; Staats and Hartig, 2004), affective (e.g., place attachment) and cognitive factors (top-down factors like source attribution) each contribute to the restorative experience of an environment, both within the context of natural environments and built environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Restoration Can Depend on Stimulus-Source Attribution: A Challenge for the Evolutionary Account?

et al. 2016

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Visiting or viewing nature environments can have restorative psychological effects, while exposure to the built environment typically has less positive effects. A classic view is that this difference in restorative potential of nature and built environments depends on differences in the intrinsic characteristics of the stimuli. In addition, an evolutionary account is often assumed whereby restoration is believed to be a hardwired response to nature’s stimulus-features. Here, we propose the novel hypothesis that the restorative effects of a stimulus do not entirely depend on the stimulus-features per se, but also on the meaning that people assign to the stimulus. Participants conducted cognitively demanding tests prior to and after a brief pause. During the pause, the participants were exposed to an ambiguous sound consisting of pink noise with white noise interspersed. Participants in the “nature sound-source condition” were told that the sound originated from a nature scene with a waterfall; participants in the “industrial sound-source condition” were told that the sound originated from an industrial environment with machinery; and participants in the “control condition” were told nothing about the sound origin. Self-reported mental exhaustion showed that participants in the nature sound-source condition were more psychologically restored after the pause than participants in the industrial sound-source condition. One potential interpretation of the results is that restoration from nature experiences depends on learned, positive associations with nature; not only on hardwired responses shaped by evolution.

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The Restorative Qualities of Being Alone with Nature

Cited by 19 publications

References 61 publications

A Qualitative Exploration of Individual Differences in Wellbeing for Highly Sensitive Individuals

A Qualitative Exploration of Individual Differences in Wellbeing for Highly Sensitive Individuals

Growing Resilience through Interaction with Nature: Can Group Walks in Nature Buffer the Effects of Stressful Life Events on Mental Health?

Psychological Restoration Can Depend on Stimulus-Source Attribution: A Challenge for the Evolutionary Account?

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