Journal of Environmental Psychology最新文献

Artificial light can impact the actual and perceived safety of visitors recreating outdoors at night. Actual safety refers to how visitors identify aspects of their environment such as pathways and obstacles, while perceptions of safety refer to how safe they feel based on perceptions of the environment. Both influence the acceptability of different light conditions. The objective of this study is to better understand how light conditions influence visitors' perceptions of safety and their potential for pleasant experiences while recreating at night in a park-like setting. This paper explores study participants' self-reported feelings of safety across eight different light conditions using two different colors, 3000 K Correlated Color Temperature (warm white) and monochromatic amber, and 4 four different intensities (0.5, 1.0, 5.0, or 10.0 lux) during a nighttime recreation-focused experiment in a university's arboretum. Prior experience with nighttime outdoor recreation and community type (urban, suburban, rural) during adolescence were evaluated alongside light conditions as predictors of feelings of safety using ordered logistic regression. Participants of this study were 31.6% more likely to report higher feelings of safety in warm white light than amber light and 81.7% more likely to report higher feelings of safety at 5.0 lux than 0.5 lux. Further, individuals who felt safer in any lighting condition were 19.6 times more likely to feel greater potential for a pleasant experience while recreating than someone who did not report feeling safe or felt unsafe. Understanding the connection between light and perceived safety in park settings can help managers tailor lighting conditions to the needs of visitors while reducing ecological impacts - brighter and cooler temperature lighting have greater negative impacts on wildlife. Adjusting the distribution and intensity of light can increase the accessibility of nighttime recreation opportunities and the potential for comfortable and pleasant experiences for visitors.

This systematic review explored the effects of forest bathing on self-criticism, self-compassion, and self-protection. We identified 12 eligible studies, which were included in our review. The study quality was generally rated as low, partly due to small sample sizes and lack of randomized controlled trials and control groups. Results showed that forest bathing is associated with reductions in negative repetitive thinking regarding oneself (e.g., rumination) and enhances in self-compassion. Included studies also found benefits of forest bathing for negative affect and well-being, introspection, and mindfulness. No study was found that focused on increased self-protection as effect of forest bathing. While results of this review highlight the potential positive effects of forest bathing, we also identified several limitations in the current literature and propose recommendations for future research. Especially the low methodological quality of studies in this field calls for more rigorous research.

Recent research has increasingly focused on the impact of green involvement on employee green creativity. The positive association between green involvement and employee green actions has long been recognized in literature. However, the potential adverse effects associated with green involvement have been largely overlooked. In our paper, drawing upon the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we propose that there is a double-edged sword effect of green involvement on employee green creativity. To test our theoretical model, we collected time-lagged data from 1059 employees working at 150 companies. The findings provide empirical support for the dual impact of green involvement on employee green creativity. Specifically, we find that green involvement significantly influences employee autonomous motivation and green pressure, and employee environmental commitment serves as a moderator for these impacts. The results further show that the positive effect of green involvement on employee green creativity is mediated by autonomous motivation. Although the the mediating role of green pressure has not been supported, the results also provide insightful implications. Incorporating insights from previous literature, we further discussed the theoretical and practical applications of the results.

Research into climate change attitudes consistently and across countries finds ideologically and worldview-determined differences in threat perceptions and policy endorsements. To further our understanding of these ideological differences, the current study explores the underlying structure of climate attitudes across right- and left-oriented individuals. Based on survey data from a representative sample from Denmark (N = 1365) we deployed the Causal Attitude Network model to formalize attitudes as networks of interacting attitude elements. We compare the networks of different ideological groups and relate the observed patterns to previous findings and theories within the environmental and political psychology literatures. Overall, the two networks were found to be characterized by many similarities, for example, in global connectivity and patterns of node strength. Yet, the results also revealed differences in the most central nodes of right and left networks, as well as theoretically interesting differences in the predictors of important nodes. We discuss the implications of the findings for communication and engagement efforts.

Emerging studies have reported that people may experience anxiety when thinking about climate change. Although such an anxiety experience can be a rational response to climate change threats, it can still be a psychological burden to people's daily lives. In this research, we proposed an integrated model of climate change anxiety as a guiding framework to identify relevant psychological factors that predict climate change anxiety. According to this model, anxiety about climate change is related to experience, perception, and appraisal of climate change, processes that are underpinned by experiential, cognitive, and sociocultural factors. Furthermore, previous studies have operationalized climate change anxiety either by affect-based responses (i.e., anxiety-related feelings) or symptom-based responses (i.e., anxiety-related impairments), but it is unclear whether the two types of responses are conceptually and empirically similar or distinct. We thus examined how the three sets of factors relate to these responses and how they relate to outcome correlates simultaneously. We tested our framework in two pre-registered studies conducted in the US (Study 1) and China (Study 2). Both studies involved representative samples of US and Chinese adults regarding gender and age. Results of the partial least square-structural equation modeling revealed supporting evidence for the role of experiential, cognitive, and sociocultural factors, although some patterns were inconsistent with our pre-registered hypotheses. Importantly, we observed that the two types of climate change anxiety showed both similar and different correlation patterns with the predictors (e.g., efficacy beliefs, values) and outcome variables (e.g., pro-environmental behavior, life satisfaction). Our findings provide initial evidence for the usefulness of the integrated model as a guiding framework for understanding climate change anxiety and the need to differentiate different types of climate change anxiety responses.

Engaging communities through exhibits displayed at community-oriented events is a longstanding practice in community activism that could prove valuable for shifting individual and collective behavior toward measures that can help reduce climate change. In this investigation we examined the effect of a climate change community exhibit that focused on four environmental issues: switching to electric vehicles, switching to community solar for residential electricity needs, reducing meat consumption, and supporting forest conservation and reforestation efforts. Participants from the greater Boston area (N = 125) were surveyed before and after attending the exhibit. Attending the exhibit increased participants' perceptions of how many members in their community engaged in action for each issue and how morally right community members thought addressing the issue was. Further, increases in how confident participants felt in engaging in the relevant actions, as well as in ease of engagement were also observed. Participants also expressed increased interest (albeit inconsistently so) in, and likelihood of, engaging in action for each issue. Across all issues, exposure to the exhibit also increased whether engaging in action was rated as an effective way to reduce climate change. Implications and future directions for interventions utilizing climate change exhibits are discussed.

Recent trends show a rise in stress and psychological disorders, necessitating innovative strategies for recovery. Our study examines the psychophysiological effects of virtual reality (VR) nature, based on the biophilia hypothesis, within real-life group settings. A randomized, acute cross-over design was employed, involving 57 participants who experienced a 10-min session in either a VR nature or a reference room, separated by a 2-min interval. Participants were measured in groups of 7–10 individuals. The VR setup featured a landscape video projected around the participants, creating a captivating 3D environment, whereas the reference room utilized the same space but without the VR elements, maintaining a basic meeting room atmosphere with white walls and a quiet setting. The primary outcome measured was heart rate variability (HRV), complemented by exploratory outcomes including the heart and respiratory rates, and questionnaires on affective well-being, creativity, and sense of belonging. Findings revealed that VR nature exposure resulted in higher HRV and reduced heart rate, indicative of enhanced parasympathetic activity. Participants reported decreased feelings of anxiety and depression, with an increase in comfort, enthusiasm, creativity, and belonging. These results present the VR nature's physiological and psychological benefits, demonstrating its effectiveness in promoting relaxation and recovery in a real-life group setting. In conclusion, the VR nature room can emerge as a versatile tool for stress alleviation and well-being improvement.

Examinations are a widely used assessment method in higher education. They are often conducted in large indoor environments that can accommodate high numbers of students to maximize scheduling and cost efficiency. Recent evidence, however, suggests enlarged room scale impacts brain activity that is associated with concentration, which could negatively impact cognitive performance. We analysed data (N = 15,400) from undergraduate students over eight years across three campuses at an Australian tertiary institution. Using a linear mixed model, we compared examination performance across different room scales, while accounting for coursework performance, and other variables. We found student examination performance was reduced in rooms with elevated ceiling heights. These results support the notion that built environment scale influences cognitive performance, and argue against conducting examinations in large scale, high-ceiling rooms.

Natural sounds are an essential part of a restorative environment. Although numerous studies have established the positive impact of natural sounds on human health and well-being, few have examined the differences between natural sounds on human stress recovery. This study examined the impact of natural sounds on stress recovery by comparing a silent environment (control group) with three experimental groups exposed to flowing water sound, birdsong, and wind sounds. The investigation entailed the assessment of subjective assessments and EEG signals from 30 subjects (12 males and 18 females). The subjective evaluations indicated that the PRS scores for the sounds of flowing water and birdsong were superior to those of the silent environment. The EEG results revealed that EEG-α activity was more pronounced in response to natural sounds than the silent environment, with birdsong evoking the most significant EEG-α activity. Wind sounds increased the mental stress of the subjects. Conversely, birdsong and flowing water sound were beneficial for alleviating mental stress. Additionally, the analysis of event-related potentials (ERP) demonstrated that natural sounds elicited higher P300 amplitudes in central and parietal lobe sensors and had little effect on the frontal region. The study also demonstrated the correlation between EEG and subjective stress evaluations, providing insights into stress reduction theories and offering practical suggestions for optimizing the acoustic environment in urban settings.

Playing outdoors is beneficial for children's development and learning. Investigating how children's play varies in different types of outdoor environments can offer valuable insight to better support their development. As part of a larger comprehensive study examining the impact of naturalizing outdoor play environments, this article focuses on investigating young children's physical activity levels and movements on equipment-based and a naturalized outdoor play environments at a licensed early childhood education and care setting. Through a quasi-experimental mixed method design, the present study used wrist- and hip-worn accelerometers as well as spatial behaviour mapping to investigate the level of physical activity and movement between the two types of outdoor play environments. Findings from the accelerometer data indicated a significant decrease in moderate-vigorous physical activity, and a significant increase in sedentary behaviour in the naturalized outdoor play environment. Spatial behaviour mapping revealed that this decrease in physical activity post-naturalization could be due to children engaging in longer periods of more clustered (i.e., multiple experiences in a similar area) play interactions and experiences on the naturalized outdoor play environment compared to the equipment-based environment. This research is valuable for considering how children's more holistic development could be supported on a naturalized outdoor play environment to inform pedagogical and policy decisions.