The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective

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Renn, J. & Laubichler, M. in Integrated History and Philosophy of Science (ed. Stadler, F.) 109–125 (Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook Vol. 20, Springer, 2017).

The last category Nature of the Space includes all spatial aspects which can be found in nature and it expresses our desire to see things above and beyond our instant surroundings, and explore the unknown in a safe manner. A strong experience is achieved by: deliberate and engaging spatial arrangements, combined with patterns from the two other categories: Nature in the Space and Natural Analogues. This category consists of four biophilic design patterns, they are prospect, refuge, mystery, and risk/peril [ 10]. Kellert, S. R. C., Elizabeth F. (2015). The Practice of Biophilic Design. Retrieved from www.biophilicdesign.com Kellert, S. R. (2008). Dimensions, Elements, and Attributes of Biophilic Design. Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life, December 2015, 3–19 There is mounting evidence, from dozens and dozens of researchers, that nature has benefits for both physical and psychological human well­being,” says Lisa Nisbet, PhD, a psychologist at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, who studies connectedness to nature. “You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.” Cognitive benefits Peters T, D’Penna K (2020) Biophilic design for restorative university learning environments: a critical review of literature and design recommendations. Sustainability (Switzerland) 12(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177064

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Tahoun ZNA (2019) Awareness assessment of biophilic design principles application. IOP Conference Series: Earth Environ Sci 329(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/329/1/012044

World Commission on Environment and Development Our Common Future (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1987). Multiple studies have found that experiencing awe may make people more kind, generous and altruistic. Stern, N. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2007). The experience of awe goes beyond making us feel good, it helps us to connect with others and has health benefits: Kellert, S. R. (1997). Kinship to mastery: Biophilia in human evolution and development. Island Press

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Biophilia as a concept promoted the idea that connection with nature plays an essential role in physical and mental health, and this has been proven in many studies [ 16, 29] In modern society, it also plays a significant role in social and family relationships [ 30]. It is also useful in highly dense urban areas office workers [ 31] and helps in stress reduction for university students and staff [ 32]. Furthermore, a study proved the inherent psychological and physiological link between humans and nature and evaluated the research supporting the social, environmental, and economic benefits of biophilia [ 33]. In her book The Nature Fix, Florence Williams describes this as ‘Scale Induced Awe’. She describes how awe promotes curiosity when what we see is outside of our usual frame of reference, or see things that we cannot easily categorise or understand, and consequently they often get seared into our memory. Pohl, C. & Hirsch Hadorn, G. Principles for Designing Transdisciplinary Research (Oekom, München, 2007).

Duzenli T, Tarakci Eren E, Akyol D (2017) Concept of sustainability and biophilic design in landscape architecture. J Acad Soc Sci 5(June):43–49 Frumkin, H. (2001). Beyond Toxicity: Human Health and the Natural Environment. Am J Prev Med Volume 20(3):34–240 Browning, W. D., Ryan, C., Kallianpurkar, N., Laburto, L., Watson, S., Knop, T. (2012). The Economics of Biophilia, Why Designing with Nature in Mind Makes Financial Sense. New York: Terrapin Bright Green

Visual Assessment of Rivers and Marshes: an Examination of the Relationship of Visual Units, Perceptual Variables, and Preference This paper is intended to be a narrative review of disparate literature designed to provide a reference for wider reading rather than to provide a systematic review of the evidence. As such, no systematic search or synthesis has been attempted and instead, a number of search terms were used and anything considered relevant to senses and nature benefits was included. Multiple study designs were included, as well as research on animals in addition to humans. Some search term examples, for sound, included “sound”, “noise”, “nature benefit”, “wellness”, “health”, “wellbeing”, with similar searches for the other senses. When relevant articles were found, a snowballing method was utilized, searching their references for further relevant articles. In some instances where very few results were found, we included preference studies as well as correlational studies where the effects of possible confounding variables could not be assessed. Noise pollution has become an increasing public complaint in the last decade [ 67], and some 80 million Europeans live with unacceptably high urban noise levels [ 68]. Chronic noise contributes to stress, annoyance, cardiovascular problems, sleep disturbance, and decreased task performance [ 69, 70, 71]. It has both psychological and physical effects ranging from elevated blood pressure, poor sustained attention, and memory problems to sleep disturbances, increased risk of myocardial infarction, annoyance, and learned helplessness [ 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78]. These effects can occur below our level of awareness [ 79]. In humans, a review found that there is some support for using sensory interventions, including aromatherapy, in the treatment of the behavioral symptoms of elderly dementia [ 130], and another review found some evidence that aromatherapy lowered blood pressure in patients with hypertension, but suggested there was a need for more studies with adequate controls [ 131]. The multi-sensory aspect of nature experiences is crucial because monotony of stimulation can be a source of stress [ 11] and multimodal sensory input itself can drive positive mental states such as tranquility [ 12]. Indeed, it has been shown that stimulating multiple senses at the same time may possibly lead to additive beneficial effects of nature experiences [ 13]. For example, one study found that while a virtual nature environment was able to reduce stress in participants, these participants also felt negatively towards the virtual environment, and expressed a sense of missing the full sensory experience of real nature [ 14]. This example highlights the possible shortcomings of assuming visual delivery is the dominant pathway through which nature benefits are delivered.

Wilson, E. O. (1986). Biophilia: the Human Bond with Other Species. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Some limitations of our review are that it was narrative rather than systematic, and we suggest future studies take a narrower, more systematic approach that could focus on particular health or well-being outcomes, although at this stage it seems the literature would be too sparse for this kind of treatment of most questions. We also used correlational or preference studies in cases where there was little experimental research to show some of the potential sensory pathways for nature benefits, even if they have not been shown unequivocally. Our review focused on the benefits from nature interactions, but future studies could also include risks. Growing your own food means understanding seasonality and having the experience of gardening, both of which are strong nature experiences. A study by Church et al. [ 178] showed that those who grow their own food are happier than those who do not, accounting for a large number of possible socio-economic confounding variables, but not demonstrating a causal effect. Food growing has been linked with a variety of benefits, including self-fulfillment, identity affirmation, self-help, and mutual support [ 179], and growing your own food contributes to food safety and tastier, better quality food [ 180, 181, 182]. In fact, wanting better tasting food was the top reason respondents to a study cited for growing their own food [ 178]. It can also be a very satisfying practice [ 183], promotes skill development [ 181, 184], and connects one to nature [ 185]. A final benefit of growing food, and the second most popular reason in the above-mentioned study, was economic savings [ 178]. Community markets with locally grown food have even been used to promote racial equality, as in the case of “Mo’ Better Foods” in the US [ 186], indicating that the benefits derived from food and taste can be far reaching, from the individual to the community scale. The expansion of food-growing from a male-dominated practice to a more equal and female-including practice has been studied [ 187], so it has implications for racial and gender relationships, and the local food movement (growing food locally) has been considered as a social movement [ 188]. Indeed, food ties us together and its use to bring people together socially is well documented [ 189, 190, 191, 192, 193]. Growing food or otherwise interacting in nature can bring us together socially and provide benefits, such as care farms [ 194] and nature-assisted therapy programs [ 195]. All of this suggests that community cohesion is one of the possible benefits of natural food. Air ions kill bacteria, increase plant and insect growth rate, and cause physiological and behavioral changes in people and other animals [ 273, 274, 275, 276]. About 1/3 of the population is sensitive to air ions, and this portion of the population responds to the change in positive ion concentration that precedes certain warm, dry winds in a number of countries [ 277] by showing elevated symptoms of depression, lassitude, migraine, nausea, insomnia, and respiratory problems when these winds bring a high concentration of positive ions and a low concentration of negative ions [ 278, 279]. Because negative air ions decrease the concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in mice, rabbits and guinea pigs, while positive ions increase it [ 280, 281], and 5-HT in humans has been found to increase with the winds, it is believed that a “serotonin irritation syndrome”, contributes to the symptoms described above [ 277, 282].

Larigauderie, A. & Mooney, H. A. The intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services: moving a step closer to an IPCC-like mechanism for biodiversity. Curr. Opin. Env. Sustain. 2, 9–14 (2010).