Human and Biodiversity Research Lab, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
Conserv Biol. 2020 Dec;34(6):1373-1382. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13624.
The increasing alienation of people from nature is profoundly concerning because people's interactions with nature affect well-being, affinity for nature, and support of biodiversity conservation. Efforts to restore or enhance people's interactions with nature are, therefore, important to ensure sustainable human and wildlife communities, but little is known about how this can be achieved. A key factor that shapes the way people interact with nature is their affinity for nature (often measured as nature relatedness [NR]). We explored how using cues to experience nature as a means to induce NR situationally can influence the quality of people's nature interactions on visits to green spaces and their positive affect after the visit. Cues to experience are cues that guide individuals on how to interact with nature. We surveyed 1023 visitors to a nature reserve to examine the relationships between trait (i.e., stable and long-lasting) and state (i.e., temporary, brief) NR, the quality of nature interactions, and positive affect. We also conducted a controlled experiment in which 303 participants spent 30 min outdoors on campus and reported the quality of their nature interactions and positive affect. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 9 cues-to-experience experimental groups (e.g., smell flowers, observe wildlife, turn off your phone) that differed in the psychological distance from nature that they prompted. Participants who received cues of close psychological distance from nature (e.g., smell and touch natural elements) interacted 3 to 4 times more with nature and reported 0.2 more positive affect than other participants. Our results demonstrate that providing cues to experience nature, which bring people closer to nature and potentially induce state NR, can enhance the quality of people's nature interactions and their positive affect. These results highlight the role of NR in high-quality nature interactions and suggest the use of cues to experience as a promising avenue for inducing state NR and promoting meaningful interactions with biodiversity, thus, reconciling conservation and well-being objectives.
人们与自然的日益疏远令人深感关切，因为人们与自然的相互作用会影响幸福感、对自然的亲近感和对生物多样性保护的支持。因此，努力恢复或增强人们与自然的相互作用对于确保可持续的人类和野生动物社区至关重要，但人们对此知之甚少。影响人们与自然相互作用方式的一个关键因素是他们对自然的亲近感（通常用与自然的相关度 [NR] 来衡量）。我们探讨了如何通过使用体验自然的线索来情景式地诱导 NR，从而影响人们在访问绿地时与自然的互动质量以及访问后的积极影响。体验线索是引导个体与自然互动的线索。我们调查了 1023 名自然保护区的游客，以研究特质（即稳定且持久）和状态（即临时、短暂）NR、与自然的互动质量和积极影响之间的关系。我们还进行了一项对照实验，其中 303 名参与者在校园内户外度过 30 分钟，并报告他们与自然的互动质量和积极影响。参与者被随机分配到 9 个体验线索实验小组之一（例如，闻花香、观察野生动物、关闭手机），这些小组在与自然的心理距离上有所不同。接受与自然心理距离较近的线索（例如，闻和触摸自然元素）的参与者与自然互动的次数增加了 3 到 4 次，比其他参与者报告的积极影响高出 0.2 分。我们的研究结果表明，提供体验自然的线索可以使人们更接近自然并可能诱导状态 NR，从而增强人们与自然的互动质量和积极影响。这些结果突出了 NR 在高质量自然互动中的作用，并表明使用体验线索作为诱导状态 NR 和促进与生物多样性有意义互动的一种有前途的途径，从而协调保护和福祉目标。
