Contact with nature may benefit, not only the bodily organism, but also the psychological self. We proposed that, assuming humans' innate affinity for nature (the biophilia hypothesis), nature would be conducive to a sense of environment-self fit, which would be experienced as authenticity (being aligned with one's true self). We formulated several hypotheses: (a) nature fosters authenticity, and it does so through at least four plausible mechanisms: self-esteem, basic needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness), mindfulness, and positive affect; (b) self-esteem is the strongest mechanism overall, and autonomy is the strongest mechanism of the three basic needs; (c) self-esteem and authenticity mediate sequentially the positive impact of nature on current psychological well-being (higher life satisfaction and meaning in life); and (d) authenticity mediates the positive influence of nature on longer term psychological well-being (higher life satisfaction and meaning in life, lower depression, anxiety, and stress). We obtained support for these hypotheses across 12 studies (N = 5,512). These were diverse in terms of setting (field, laboratory), design (cross-sectional, experimental, longitudinal), methodology (varying manipulations of nature and assessment of mediators and/or dependent measures), and sampling (university/community, East Asian/Western). The findings establish nature as a correlate and determinant of authenticity, chiefly via the mechanism of self-esteem, and further establish authenticity (preceded by self-esteem) as a mediator of the positive influence of nature on psychological well-being. The findings are also generative and have policy implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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自然孕育真实性：机制和后果。

与大自然的接触不仅对身体有机体有益，而且对心理自我也有益。我们提出，假设人类对自然具有天生的亲和力（亲生物假说），自然将有利于环境与自我的契合感，这将被体验为真实性（与真实的自我保持一致）。我们提出了几个假设：（a）自然促进真实性，它通过至少四种看似合理的机制来实现这一点：自尊、基本需求满足（自主性、能力、关联性）、正念和积极情感；(b) 自尊是总体上最强的机制，自主性是三种基本需要的最强机制；(c) 自尊和真实性依次调节自然对当前心理健康的积极影响（更高的生活满意度和生活意义）；(d) 真实性调节自然对长期心理健康的积极影响（更高的生活满意度和生活意义，更低的抑郁、焦虑和压力）。我们通过 12 项研究 (N = 5,512) 获得了对这些假设的支持。这些在环境（现场、实验室）、设计（横断面、实验、纵向）、方法（对自然的不同处理以及中介和/或依赖措施的评估）和抽样（大学/社区、东亚）方面各不相同。 /西）。研究结果将自然确定为真实性的相关因素和决定因素，主要通过自尊机制，并进一步确定真实性（先于自尊）作为自然对心理健康的积极影响的中介因素。研究结果也具有生成性并具有政策意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。