Department of Psychology, Research Center in Communication Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2023 Apr;26(4):300-308. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2022.0260. Epub 2023 Apr 4.
Virtual nature exposure has emerged as an effective method for promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, also due to the increased emotional connection with nature itself. However, the role played by complex emotions elicited by virtual nature, such as awe, needs to be fully elucidated. Awe is an emotion stemming from vast stimuli, including nature, and virtual reality (VR) emerged as an effective medium to elicit it. One hundred nineteen participants were exposed to either one of four VR environments: (a) an , (b) a , (c) a , (d) a . Pro-environmental attitudes, intentions, discrete emotions, and affect were measured and compared across the different conditions. Two tasks were developed to measure two pro-environmental behaviors after each VR exposure. Participants were invited to sign a real petition against plastic production, consumption, and in favor of plastic recycling (a personally engaging behavior), and to take flyers to spread the word on the petition to friends and acquaintances (a socially engaging behavior). Awe-inspiring virtual nature resulted in a significantly increased number of flyers taken by participants (vs. control). Disposition toward the protection of the environment, positive emotional affect, and condition significantly correlated with the number of flyers taken. These results indicated that awe-inspiring virtual nature can influence socially engaging pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors but not personally engaging ones.
虚拟自然体验已成为促进亲环境态度和行为的有效方法，这也归因于人们与自然之间的情感联系增强。然而，虚拟自然所引发的复杂情感（如敬畏感）的作用仍需充分阐明。敬畏感是一种源自广阔刺激物（包括自然）的情感，虚拟现实（VR）已成为引发这种情感的有效媒介。119 名参与者被暴露在四种 VR 环境中的其中一种：（a）森林，（b）沙漠，（c）海洋，（d）草原。在不同的条件下，测量并比较了亲环境态度、意图、离散情绪和情感。在每次 VR 体验后，开发了两个任务来衡量两种亲环境行为。邀请参与者签署一份反对塑料生产、消费和支持塑料回收的真实请愿书（这是一种个人参与的行为），并将传单分发给朋友和熟人（这是一种社会参与的行为）。令人敬畏的虚拟自然环境导致参与者分发的传单数量明显增加（与对照相比）。对保护环境的倾向、积极的情感影响和条件与分发的传单数量显著相关。这些结果表明，令人敬畏的虚拟自然环境可以影响社会参与型亲环境态度和行为，但不能影响个人参与型的态度和行为。
