Exposure to ‘real’ nature can increase positive affect and decrease negative affect, but direct access is not always possible, e.g. for people in health/care settings who often experience chronic boredom. In these settings ‘virtual’ forms of nature may also have mood-related benefits (e.g. reducing boredom) but it has been difficult to separate effects of nature content from those of delivery mode

Distraction from the background environment while performing concentrationdemanding tasks is a common issue for office employees in shared work areas. However, few field studies have been conducted on the effects of different office types and work areas on objective measurements of cognitive performance. The first aim of the present field study was to investigate, before relocation to an activity-based

Extensive land degradation is a global problem that presents a critical threat to pastoralists’ welfare in East Africa and beyond. Although the reasons for this environmental problem are complex, it is likely to be exacerbated by communal land management practices that have become suboptimal due to changes in land access and population growth. In the present paper we make initial steps towards addressing

Recent reports have presented evidence of dramatic biodiversity declines. Despite the threat posed by such losses we know little about people's reactions to such information, or rarer ‘bright spot’ stories of localised recovery. We explored these issues through the lens of prospect theory, testing three aspects: a) reference dependence, b) loss aversion, and c) diminishing sensitivity. Study 1 (n = 393)

Despite the success of plastic bag charges in the UK, there are still around a billion single-use plastic bags bought each year in England alone, and the government have made plans to increase the levy from 5 to 10 pence. Previous research has identified motivations for bringing personal bags to a supermarket, but little is known about the individuals who are continuing to frequently purchase single-use

With the continuous growth of the global population and the increasing demand for natural resources, ecological resource scarcity has become a global issue that cannot be ignored. However, little is known about individuals' environment-related responses to ecological resource scarcity. Will people save resources for the future or consume them for immediate interests when resources become scarce? Drawing

The psychological construct of nature connectedness - the depth of an individual's relationship with the natural world - has not only been associated with benefits for mental well-being but has also shown relationships with personality traits relevant to the dark personality literature. These include agreeableness, cognitive and affective empathy, and callous and uncaring traits. Across two independently-sampled

Landmarks, salient spatial elements, are often argued to play an important role in the formation of mental representations of space. They are likely to be perceived due to their salience and they can be used as spatial reference points to memorize the locations of other spatial elements. In maps, landmarks are often represented as pictograms. Similar to real world objects, their likelihood to be perceived

Nature interactions have been demonstrated to produce reliable affective benefits. While adults demonstrate strong preferences for natural environments over urban ones, it is not clear whether these affective benefits result from exposure to nature stimuli per se, or result from viewing a highly preferred stimulus. In one set of studies (Study 1 and 2), state affect before and after image viewing was

Across cultures, people seem to have a strong default belief that natural entities are better, healthier, and safer than non-natural entities. While the majority of research has thus far primarily focused on the exploration of a naturalness bias in general, few studies have directly attempted to examine the relationship between individual differences and naturalness bias. Based on previous theory that

There are large individual differences in navigation ability, but we know little about the causes of these differences. Here, we examine how motivational and emotional dispositions affect every-day navigation and in turn influence navigation ability. We developed three new self-report surveys, measuring growth mindset in regard to navigation ability, tendency to explore new places, and tendency to

Laboratory studies, mostly with students as samples, consistently demonstrate the psychological benefits of indoor plants. However, these findings do not always translate into benefits for employees in real work contexts. In three studies, this paper first looked to replicate the findings of previous laboratory studies for the South African context and then to assess whether these findings were robust

The challenge of handling the Earth's shared, limited resources calls for strategies that promote sustainable behavior. We examine whether competition between groups can foster sustainable behavior and whether dispositional competitiveness moderates this effect. In two well-powered, pre-registered studies (total N = 1946), participants took part in a common resource microworld, in which they shared

Research exploring place attachment, place identity and people-place relations often adopts a quantitative approach and focuses on positively perceived places with negative or ambivalent places being largely omitted. This study investigated patterns of attachment of former staff members from three conventionally stigmatised places: historic mental asylums in the north of England. Semi-structured, qualitative

Recent research found that when asked explicitly, people associate (future) sustainable actions with positive instead of negative emotions. This empirical finding implies that policy makers could harness people's intrinsic motivation to promote sustainable actions. It is however not clear where this association between sustainable actions and positive emotions stems from. Why would people report that

Evidence has been found that contact with nature may reduce rumination in healthy individuals living in urban environments. This paper aims at i) testing whether one may replicate previous findings using a shorter duration of nature exposure, and ii) explore the possibility that a shift in attention away from self (notably induced by the emotion of awe), leading to mood restoration, may mediate such

This article explores the cross-cultural equivalence of two composite measures of environmental concern derived from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP): the pro-environmental views scale (PEVS) and the environmental awareness scale (EAS). Item response theory and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis were employed to evaluate comprehensively the target measures while focusing on a concrete

Based on collective action theories and appraisal theories of emotion, we propose that people are moved and positively overwhelmed by the idea that together they can make a difference for a more sustainable future and that these feelings motivate them to participate in pro-environmental collective action. We surveyed activists and sympathizers of a forest protection campaign (Study 1, N = 210) and

The present study aimed to investigate the decision-making process and outcomes associated with downsizing to a smaller home in late life. Older adults who had downsized in the past year (n = 68) were recruited across the U.S. between 2018 and 2019 and were interviewed eithr in person or over the phone. Participants completed self-report measures of push-pull factors driving the decision to move, relocation

Healthcare built environments are increasingly considered an important contributor to patient satisfaction and wellbeing. Nevertheless, few studies have developed rigorous survey tools to capture patients' experience of such settings, and hence facilitate investigating the nexus between the built environment and health-related outcomes, in a reliable manner. Even fewer consider ambulatory oncology

Building on a body of research examining the influence of natural versus urban images on attention, the purpose of the present study was to examine attention restoration with (1) a large sample size, (2) a broader image set that was more representative of typical natural and urban environments, and (3) an increased number of task trials to increase the likelihood of more thorough attentional depletion

Feedback on one's consumption, for instance, via a carbon footprint calculator, is a common strategy used in attempts to promote pro-environmental action. Although feedback can be effective in reducing consumption, little research examines the psychological processes that may be involved. In other contexts, negative feedback can evoke guilt, whereas positive feedback can evoke pride. Pride is often

Environmental psychology is a field concerned with transactions between humans and their environments. Since human–environment interactions are culture-bound, a fuller understanding of such interactions requires sensitivity to the role of culture in the ways researchers theorize human behavior, conduct empirical studies, and interpret observed findings. In this article, we aim to advance the development

Self-regulation in childhood is associated with multiple short- and long-term outcomes, including academic achievement, and physical and mental health. The literature to date suggests several individual and family factors that can influence children's development of self-regulation. However, the role of the wider context, particularly the wider physical context, remains less clear. In the present study

In three studies, we investigated the consequences of self-nature representations for pro-environmental action, focusing on the role of viewing nature as relatively larger than the self (i.e., nature-self size; NSS). Drawing on theories from the self, prosocial behavior, and emotions literatures, we anticipated that NSS would make unique contributions above and beyond inclusion of nature in self (INS)

Food loss and food waste extensively contribute to environmental degradation. Children waste large quantities of food and more research is required to better understand this problem and consequently to reduce food waste in the youngest generation. Here, we examined affective and behavioral components of attitudes towards food-wasting in a group of 670 children and 123 adults, aged 3–28. The participants

The impact of anthropogenic climate change is an ever-pressing challenge facing the global community. Making changes to minimize the negative effects of climate change is critical. Visual images of climate change are emotionally salient and have been found to capture attention. However, the degree to which emotional valence (i.e., positive or negative) and aspect of climate change (i.e., potential

Local mobility culture is introduced as a theoretical concept that is useful for transformative research. This article conceptualizes local mobility culture as injunctive normative beliefs that comprise the priorities of a local transport system. The concept suggests that these beliefs are acquired through communication within social networks. The presented measure for local mobility culture proposes

Images are commonly used in environmental advocacy campaigns that are designed to promote collective action. However, the effects of different types of images have rarely been examined. In three experiments (combined N = 1426), we tested the impact of commonly used campaign images (meeting, protest, or no image) on willingness to engage in collective action against coal mining. Further, we examined

People often misperceive other people's beliefs about global warming—for instance, underestimating the percentage of people who think global warming is happening. In the U.S., perceptions of others vary across political lines and interact with the extent to which partisans align or deviate from the views of their political ingroup. With an online sample of U.S. adults (N = 1214), we conduct a partial

The psychological determinants of place attachment have thus far been explored only to a limited extent. We propose that the bonds humans develop with other humans (attachment styles) are consequential to understand the bonds individuals develop with places and spaces (place attachment). We examined this hypothesis in four studies. Study 1 (N = 101) shows that attachment style is associated with the

This study conducted an experiment in the time donation context to test whether place attachment moderates the impact of compassion fade on intention to donate time for helping other people in need. In the experiment, a two-way ANCOVA considering altruistic values as a covariate revealed that the negative impact of the number of people in need (i.e., compassion fade) on time donation was significantly

Multiple previous studies have reported that viewing natural scenery supports recovery from psychological stress. Viewing flowers is thus predicted to provide a recovery effect similar to that of viewing natural scenery. It remains unclear, however, how effectively viewing flowers promotes recovery and how the practice affects the brain. Using psychological, physiological, and neuroscientific techniques

The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the previously underexplored ecological dimension of the overview effect phenomenon – the cognitive shift in awareness experienced by astronauts as a result of seeing Earth from outer space – and to identify and describe its defining features. Based on 14 semi-structured interviews with astronauts, this study applied interpretive phenomenological

Although people seem to be concerned about climate change, few are pro-actively engaged in attempting to mitigate it. This discrepancy between environmental view and action has been recognized as a great challenge. This empirical study examined that disparity by investigating people's mindsets about the world. Such mindsets concern the degree to which people perceive their world as a changeable entity

Wildfire events have been impacting many parts of the United States. Of particular importance are the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas, where residential development exposes residents to increased risk from the threat of wildfire. However, evidence shows that WUI homeowners do not adequately mitigate risk through participation in programs such as Firewise USA®. In this investigation, we examined

There has been increasing recognition of the importance of children's outdoor play and independent mobility for thriving children, neighbourhoods, cities and society, which has led to calls to reverse children's retreat from the street commonplace in many Western nations. We privilege the voices of children aged 10–13 living in three diverse neighbourhoods in an urban centre in Canada to examine the

Technological advancements spawn products that tend to be useful when placed in the appropriate hands. Here we investigated whether potential benefits of owning a feedback device were driven by individual differences in environmental values (i.e. biospherism), or whether the device alone is sufficient to reduce energy over time. We examined a total of 276 households, 138 equipped with a feedback device

A strong consensus exists amongst climate scientists that the Earth is warming, and that this warming is due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Members of the public are nevertheless frequently exposed to misinformation about climate change (and the degree of scientific consensus on climate change). One strategy to combat such misinformation is attitudinal “inoculation”—exposing individuals

Do consumers become stingy tippers in inclement weather? Prior literature suggests that such weather induces negative moods, which in turn leads to stingy tipping. In this paper, on the basis of New York City taxi tipping data merged with corresponding real-time weather data, we provide different perspectives on weather-induced mood effects that take into account ambient environments provided by indoor

Despite the fact that there is a 97% consensus among climate scientists that humans are causing global warming, the spread of misinformation continues to undermine public support for climate action. Previous studies have found that resistance to misinformation can be induced by cognitively inoculating individuals against doubt-sowing about climate change. However, the long-term effectiveness of this

Experimental evidence suggests that our internal representation of surrounding space consists of a stack of horizontal planes. This outcome could reflect a fundamental property of human spatial cognition, or it could just reflect the asymmetrical permeability of buildings in which participants were tested, i.e., they had ample opportunity for looking and walking within a given level, but much less

Pro-environmental appeals that strive to protect a natural area often invoke psychological ownership, or a personal, emotional connection to the place. However, in Western cultures, legal ownership is often suggested as a way to preserve natural resources and avoid the “commons problem.” Based on research on human prosocial behavior, we hypothesized that psychological ownership would be a more effective

Social desirability responding (SDR) is the tendency of respondents to answer survey questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others. Scholars in environmental psychology have argued SDR influences individuals’ answers to surveys asking their pro-environmental intentions, attitude and behaviour. Yet empirical evidence indicates the correlations between SDR and environmentalism questions

While the virus SARS-CoV-2 spreads all over the world, most countries have taken severe measures to protect their citizens and slow down the further spread of the disease COVID-19. These measures affect individuals, communities, cities, countries, and the entire planet. In this paper, we propose that the tremendous consequences of the corona crisis invite environmental psychology to focus more strongly

Protecting the environment is a social dilemma: environmental protection benefits everyone but is individually costly. We propose that protecting the environment is similar to other types of cooperation, in that environmentalism functions as a signal of one's willingness to cooperate with others. We test several novel predictions from this hypothesis. We used a mathematical model to show that environmentalism

Self-regulation in early childhood is linked with later academic success and general well-being. Therefore, there is great interest in supporting its development. Exposure to nature has been linked with many positive outcomes, including enhanced attentional functioning, which may be an underlying resource in self-regulation. Employing a quasi-experimental design, we examined the relationship between

Almost all the studies about place attachment in environmental risk contexts only consider the role of place attachment to home or local area. However, especially when it comes to risks requiring evacuation from home and local area, it is likely that place attachment to evacuation sites, if any, becomes relevant too. The present studies intend to understand how place attachment to evacuation sites

Geographical personality differences robustly predict diverse consequential outcomes. However, comparatively little is known about the factors that create such differences, in particular the role of the built environment. To bridge the gap, the present study used a socioecological approach to examine the relationship between walkability and personality. Walkability reflects the degree to which urban

Environmental degradation and biodiversity loss are worldwide problems caused by human activities, which can often be classified as a resource dilemma. Across two studies, and using self-determination theory as a framework, we examine the relationships between motivation, goals, sanctioning systems and sustainable behaviour in a resource dilemma. The resource dilemma used was a 2-person partnered design

Psychological research suggests a sense of purpose in life is a coveted asset, with well-established linkages to well-being and healthy functioning. But how do individuals preserve this sense when previously reliable settings – and the opportunities they afford – are profoundly disrupted? The current moment provides a formidable test of this question, as widespread transmission of Covid-19 and intense

There is increasing attention to the negative emotional responses associated with awareness of climate change. We present three studies developing a scale of climate change anxiety. In Study 1, the scale was developed and validated in an MTurk sample of 197. Exploratory factor analysis of our item pool revealed a four-factor structure, with cognitive-emotional impairment, functional impairment, behavioral

In a time of rapid climate change, understanding what may encourage sustainable consumer behaviour is a vital but difficult challenge. Using an attitude network approach, we investigated which associations people have towards conventional and bio-based plastic in order to develop an empirically-based approach to initiate attitude- and behaviour change. With a qualitative study (N = 97), we distilled

Children's everyday experiences with physical activity in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions are important from a health promotion standpoint. Experiencing well-being in physically active play is important, and the affordances of the environment may support such behaviour. The aim of this study is to develop knowledge about how the affordances of the ECEC outdoor environment may

Rural communities often display strong emotions in response to closures of facilities and services. Research into explaining community responses hardly pays attention to the socio-psychological process of ‘loss’ of such local facilities, which occurs when place bonds are disrupted. This paper explores how a rural community makes sense of place-change by examining how residents interpret, evaluate and

Clothing production has high impacts on the environment, with a reduction in the consumption of clothes providing a contribution towards urgently needed sustainable production and consumption. The present study employs the comprehensive action determination model (CADM) to identify psychological determinants associated with reduced clothing consumption across five different countries. In two studies