Nature psychology

Theories

• Attention Restoration Theory
• Stress Reduction Theory
• Biophilia Hypothesis
• Adaptive Lag Hypothesis (Laland and Brown, 2006)
• Ecological dynamics theory (Brymer)

Research

Early childhood experiences are formative in the development of adult's relationships with nature (Bunting & Cousins, 1985; Richardson, 2015).

Measures

• Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009)
• Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004)

See also

• Green exercise
• Psychology of natural scenes

References

• Bunting, T. E., & Cousins, L. R. (1985). Environmental dispositions among school-age children: A preliminary investigation. Environment and Behaviour, 17(6), 725-786. doi: 10.1177/0013916585176004
• Laland, K.N., & Brown, G.R. (2006). Niche construction, human behaviour, and the adaptive lag hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews, 15(3), 95-104. doi: 10.1002/evan.20093
• Mayer, F. S., & Frantz, C. M. (2004). Connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individual’s feeling in community with nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(4), 503-515. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.10.001
• Nisbet, E. K., Zelenski, J. M., & Murphy, S. A. (2009). The Nature Relatedness Scale: Linking individuals’ connection with nature to environmental concern and behaviour. Environment and Behaviour, 41, 715-740. doi: 10.1177/0013916508318748
• Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., Harvey, C., & Petronzi, D. (2015). The impact of children's connection to nature: A report for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).