Transcendent Experiences in Wild and Manicured Settings: The Influence of the Trait “Connectedness to Nature”

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“…The present study found that location had a significant effect on positive mood and subjective well-being, as well as finding that meaning and mindfulness increase significantly only in "wild" areas such as forests or mountains, and then only when participants spent 30 minutes or more in these settings every day. Although the sample sizes are too small to break these categories down for further analysis, the suggestion that "wild" areas may be more effective in increasing mindfulness and meditation reflects the findings that all individuals can benefit from calming, "manicured" environments such as gardens or parks (Hartig & Staats, 2006), but it is mainly "wild" landscapes that have been found to provoke feelings of awe or meaning (Davis & Gatersleben, 2013;Herzog & Kropscott, 2004s).…”

“…Fear of being attacked by wildlife or getting lost were described by Van den Berg & Ter Heijne's (2005) participants, while Herzog and Rector (2008) found that perceived danger undermined the restorative effects of a natural environment. Davis and Gatersleben's (2013) findings that "wild" cliffs brought on feelings of awe in those already highly connected to nature, but caused fear and disturbance in those low in nature connection, gives further weight to these concerns. Similarly, there is evidence to suggest that preference for natural landscapes may be cultural.…”

What fosters awe-inspiring experiences in nature-based tourism destinations?

“…Sometimes used interchangeably with extraordinary experiences, transcendent experiences entail moments of extreme happiness, freedom and a sense of harmony with the world, which are totally absorbing and feel important to the individual (Davis & Gatersleben, 2013;Williams & Harvey, 2001). These experiences are triggered by natural or wilderness environments and are reported to evoke a sense of inspiration, awe, spirituality and timelessness (Davis & Gatersleben, 2013;Williams & Harvey, 2001).…”

“…These experiences are triggered by natural or wilderness environments and are reported to evoke a sense of inspiration, awe, spirituality and timelessness (Davis & Gatersleben, 2013;Williams & Harvey, 2001). Williams and Harvey (2001) describe the key characteristics of transcendent experiences as those that have a strong positive effect, evoke feelings of overcoming limits of the everyday, sense of connection with the universe or some other form of power/entity, total absorption in and feeling of significance in the moments, and a sense of timelessness.…”

“…Generally, awe itself is not explicably studied; rather, awe is often listed as one of many emotions experienced or used interchangeably with other strong emotive descriptors (Table 1). For example, Davis and Gatersleben (2013) use awe as part of their emotional appraisal of experiences; Hughes (2013) as an emotional response to viewing wildlife; Faber and Hall (2007) as one of a number of affective or emotional states; and Jefferies and Lepp (2012) as a type of spontaneous emotion. Other than Coghlan et al's (2012) proposed framework for examining awe in tourism, little research has been conducted that explicitly examines what fosters awe-inspiring experiences in tourism settings.…”