Kalevi Korpela

Kalevi Korpela
Tampere University | UTA · Faculty of Social Sciences / Psychology

Professor of Psychology

About

143
Publications
126,795
Reads
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14,883
Citations
Introduction
Kalevi Korpela, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus of psychology with a specialization on environment and well-being. His research is focused on the restorative and well-being effects of the use of natural and built environments. In particular, he has studied environmental self-regulation, i.e., the use of favorite places and natural settings for emotion-, stress-, and self-regulation. His research interests also include place attachment and the role of nature exposure in recovery from work stress.
Additional affiliations
January 2013 - April 2022
Tampere University
Position
  • Professor (Full)
Description
  • Environment and Well-Being, 5 ECTS
January 2010 - present
Tampere University
Position
  • Professor

Publications

Publications (143)
Article
Objective: This study focuses on a nature-based group treatment (Flow with Nature treatment, FWN) for working-age adults diagnosed with clinical depression. We searched for different subgroups of depression and restoration levels to see who, in particular, benefits from FWN treatment. Method: In total, 108 people participated in the study at vari...
Article
Full-text available
This study examined Flow with Nature (FWN) treatment, which is an integrative intervention (rehabilitation) based on eco and environmental psychology, psychotherapeutic theories and professional psychological practice. FWN is intended for depression rehabilitation with the help of social support, nature environments and FWN exercises. Exercises enc...
Article
This research investigated the effects of a nature-based treatment on participants diagnosed with depression. Participants (N = 136) were randomized into nature-based (n = 59) or standard care-only (n = 77) groups. The participants in the nature-based group were offered 12 nature-based sessions once a week in addition to standard care. The particip...
Preprint
In their 2022 (p. 3) editorial, Schultz and McCunn propose that JEVP “is not an outlet [...] for work that is purely qualitative in nature”. We write to express our concern at this statement. While we are pleased that qualitative research is still welcome in JEVP through mixed-methods studies, this policy risks diminishing the perceived value of qu...
Article
Full-text available
Rates of living alone, especially in more urbanised areas, are increasing across many industrialised countries, with associated increases in feelings of loneliness and poorer mental health. Recent studies have suggested that access to nature (e.g. parks and green spaces) can reduce the stressors associated with loneliness, partly through providing...
Article
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Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin koronapandemiasta johtuneen rajoitus- ja poikkeusajan alkuvaihetta (kevät 2020) ja selvitettiin, erosiko koronapandemiaan liittyvien kielteisten tunteiden (koronatunteet) voimakkuus kevään eri vaiheissa vastanneiden välillä. Lisäksi selvitettiin, oliko luontoulkoilulla yhteyttä koronatunteisiin ja miten koronatunteet oli...
Article
Full-text available
Background Exposure to natural environments is thought to be beneficial for human health, but the evidence is inconsistent. Objective To examine whether exposure to green and blue spaces in urban environments is associated with mental and physical health in Finland. Methods The Helsinki Capital Region Environmental Health Survey was conducted in...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Natural sounds are reportedly restorative, but most research has used one-off experiments conducted in artificial conditions. Research based on field experiments is still in its infancy. This study aimed to generate hypotheses on the restorative effects of listening to natural sounds on surgeons, representing professionals working in s...
Article
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We provide an extension of the Savanna perceptual preference hypothesis (“Savanna Hypothesis”), supposing that interaction with landscapes offering survival advantage for human groups during evolution might have gradually evolved to permanent landscape preferences. This additional support is based on the palaeoenvironmental analysis of the spread o...
Article
Full-text available
Recovery from work stress during workday breaks, free evenings, weekends, and vacations is known to benefit employee health and well-being. However, how recovery at different temporal settings is interconnected is not well understood. We hypothesized that on days when employees engage in recovery-enhancing lunchtime activities, they will experience...
Article
Most studies on psychological restoration and favorite places have addressed restoration in green or blue outdoor settings whereas the interest around built and indoor settings has been scarce. In this study, we analyzed restorative experiences in favorite indoor and outdoor urban places using a top-down approach by including psycho-environmental v...
Article
Full-text available
Experience of nature is widely linked to wellbeing, including psychological restoration. Benefits to creativity have been explored in a limited number of studies which refer to theories of restorative environments as frameworks, but it is unclear which aspects of the environment and person-nature transactions are implicated in these processes. In t...
Article
Decades of research in environmental psychology have shown that contact with natural environments has restorative, stress-ameliorating effects. At present, researchers in the emerging field of virtual natural environments are studying whether these restorative health effects can be reproduced with simulated environments, raising new possibilities f...
Article
There is a lack of consensus on whether preference informs evaluations of urban and natural scenes as psychologically restorative or instorative, or whether instorative perceptions inform preference. Perceptions of restorative potential and outcomes without a prior stress intervention are called instorative. In two online experimental studies condu...
Article
Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Recovery Theory (SRT) highlight the restorative properties of natural or green environments. However, the study of the psychological benefits obtained through contact with built open urban places, such as squares or streets, has received far less attention. In this paper we present a within-subjects pre...
Article
Full-text available
Exposure to natural environments is associated with a lower risk of common mental health disorders (CMDs), such as depression and anxiety, but we know little about nature-related motivations, practices and experiences of those already experiencing CMDs. We used data from an 18-country survey to explore these issues (n = 18,838), taking self-reporte...
Chapter
In this study we examined links between specific, known places in nature and perceived psychological benefits. The qualitative data (N = 8) were gathered during an experiment where participants viewed a slideshow of ten place photos of their own selection and spoke aloud about a positive memory associated with the place in the relevant experimental...
Article
Luonnosta Virtaa-interventio: osallistujien kokemukset ja tunnetilan muutokset Tutkimuksessa kehitettiin luontolähtöinen interventio hyvinvoinnin tueksi (Luonnosta Virtaa-interventio) ja selvitettiin interventioon osallistuneiden kokemuksia ja välittömiä tunnetilan muutoksia intervention aikana. Aineistossa oli työssä käyviä työntekijöitä (N = 121)...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
We present a study comparing physiological and psychological restoration in matched real and virtual natural environments. Participants (n=24) experienced a real forest, or one of two audiovisual virtual forests wearing a head-mounted display: A 3D forest or a 360-degree video. The results showed that some of the benefits of the real forest could a...
Article
The aim of the study was to investigate the benefits of favourite physical places for well-being based on the idea of environmental self-regulation. It proposes that everyday favourite places are used as a “coping mechanism” to enhance subjective well-being through reflection, emotion regulation and withdrawal. We investigated the connection betwee...
Article
Full-text available
Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...
Article
Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...
Article
Full-text available
This study developed the Children’s Vitality-Relaxation Scale (CVRS) by revising the adult version of the Restoration Outcome Scale (ROS). The CVRS was translated and culturally adapted into Korean, and its reliability and validity were evaluated in a cross-sectional, descriptive design study. Data collected from 181 elementary school students in g...
Article
Aesthetic qualities of urban green and blue spaces have received considerable attention in scientific literature but are operationalized in multiple ways and lack clear assessment and measurement techniques. To fill in this gap, we developed a Perceived Environmental Aesthetic Qualities Scale (PEAQS). Based on previous literature both in philosophy...
Cover Page
The Scientific Committee of the World Conference on Forests for Public Health welcomes the submission of original abstracts according to the following submission guidelines the latest by 31 December 2018.
Article
Full-text available
In this experiment we investigated how individual differences in orientation towards built vs. nature environment as well as noise sensitivity affect psychological and physiological restoration in a constructed urban park, urban woodland and city centre of Helsinki, Finland. The participants, 30–61-year-old healthy women (N = 83), visited each stud...
Article
Full-text available
The evidence for restorative effects of contact with nature is vast. Drawing from two well-known theories in Environmental Psychology, Stress reduction theory and Attention restoration theory, restoration can be seen as a sequential, interactive process that begins with physiological relaxation and results in affective and attention restoration and...
Article
Physical activity in natural settings has been found in experimental research to be more restorative than physical activity in built indoor or outdoor settings, yet we lack evidence of this in everyday life. In this study we examined recalled restoration (with the 9-item Restoration Outcome Scale) of the most recent physical activity session in ind...
Article
Full-text available
This research addresses the profiles of nature exposure and outdoor activities in nature among Finnish employees (N = 783). The profiles were formed on the bases of nature exposure at work and the frequency and type of outdoor activities in nature engaged in during leisure time. The profiles were investigated in relation to work engagement and burn...
Article
Full-text available
Environmental strategies of affect regulation refer to the use of natural and urban socio-physical settings in the service of regulation. We investigated the perceived use and efficacy of environmental strategies for regulation of general affect and sadness, considering them in relation to other affect regulation strategies and to subjective well-b...
Chapter
It is known that contact with natural environments promotes well-being and psychological restoration from stress but the role of biodiversity in this process is not extensively studied. There is a lack of theoretical and empirical work on the psychological mechanisms and processes linking biodiversity and wellbeing. Mediating mechanisms of cognitiv...
Article
Työntekijöiden jaksaminen on työelämässä koetuksella. Tarkoituksemme on tutkia, kuinka uupumusasteisen väsymyksen taso muuttuu kahden vuoden aikana ja miten tämä muutos tai pysyvyys kytkeytyy työstä palautumiseen. Palautumista tutkimme sitä ylläpitävien palautumisen kokemusten (työstä irrottautuminen, rentoutuminen, taidonhallinta ja kontrolli vapa...
Presentation
Full-text available
Introduction: Natural environments relate positively to wellbeing outcomes, including psychological restoration from stress and mental fatigue (Hartig, Mitchell, de Vries, & Frumkin, 2014). To date, study of contextual, top-down, or person-centred factors within the field of restorative environments, such as person-place bonds and past experiences...
Article
Background: Epidemiological studies have reported positive associations between the amount of green space in the living environment and mental and cardiovascular human health. In a search for effect mechanisms, field studies have found short-term visits to green environments to be associated with psychological stress relief. Less evidence is avail...
Article
The health-enhancing benefits of contact with nature have become widely recognized, but empirical studies that consider the motives and attentional focus of nature visits are lacking. These psychological qualities may partly determine why one visits natural environments and why some visits are more restorative than others. This study examined recen...
Presentation
Full-text available
The field of restorative environments is largely focused on the effects of perceptual properties of natural environments on recovery from stress and cognitive fatigue. However, recent research suggests that top-down processing, in the form of memories and place attachment, can influence how restorative different environments are perceived to be (e....
Article
The purpose of the study was to investigate whether deliberate psychological tasks, intended to focus people’s attention on the interaction between themselves and natural surroundings, are linked with mood enhancement and self-reported restoration. In four European countries (Finland, France, Luxembourg, Sweden), we surveyed the experiences of volu...
Article
We investigated relations between various types of self-reported nature exposure at work and at home, and well-being among employees (N = 664) across two years. An electronic questionnaire was delivered three times, once a year. We identified seven employee groups with different long-term trajectories of four well-being indicators (vitality, happin...
Article
Top-down processing has been highlighted as a potential, but as yet understudied, aspect of restorative environmental experience. In an online study, N = 234 adults resident in Finland rated their favorite Finnish place on measures of perceived restorativeness, perceived restorative outcomes, and place attachment, and provided qualitative descripti...
Article
Full-text available
Considering the increasing demands of various occupational interventions, this study aimed at examining the impact of relaxation exercises and park walks during lunch breaks on physiological recovery (i.e., on changes in cortisol excretion and blood pressure). In a four-week randomized controlled trial, 153 knowledge workers in seven companies were...
Article
Full-text available
Only few studies so far have examined recovery from work during workday breaks. In this intervention study, based on the effort-recovery model and the conservation of resources theory, we examined how to enhance recovery during lunch breaks. More specifically, we examined the within-person effects of lunchtime park walks and relaxation exercises on...
Article
The aim of this 2-year longitudinal study was to identify long-term patterns of work-related rumination in terms of affective rumination, problem-solving pondering, and lack of psychological detachment from work during off-job time. We also examined how the patterns differed in job demands and wellbeing outcomes. The data were collected via questio...
Article
The tourism industry thrives on the notion that holiday travel improves wellbeing. However, scientific evidence that holiday travel is more beneficial than spending free time at home is lacking. Using the Effort-Recovery and the Limited Resources model as theoretical basis, this study investigates whether workers behave, think, and feel differently...
Article
Lunch breaks constitute the longest within-workday rest period, but it is unclear how they affect recovery from job stress. We conducted two randomized controlled trials with 153 Finnish knowledge workers who engaged for 15 minutes daily in various prescribed lunch break activities for ten consecutive working days. Participants were randomly assig...
Article
Full-text available
We investigated two-directional relations between various types of exposure to the natural world, at work and at home, and employee well-being. In total, 841 employees answered an electronic questionnaire twice with a one-year interval. Path analysis indicated that frequent physical activity in natural surroundings during free time predicted greate...
Article
Previous research linking favourite places and restorative environments hypothesises that place memory and place attachment can be implicated in restorative perceptions of place. In the present study, conducted with an online paradigm, 234 Finnish residents rated an imagined favourite place on place memory properties, place attachment, and imagined...
Article
Full-text available
Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kehittää emootioita, minäkokemusta ja ympäristösuhteen ominaisuuksia koskevista, niin sanottua kokonaisvaltaista luontokokemusta kuvaavista väittämistä mittari (KOLU) ja selvittää sen rakennetta, ulottuvuuksien reliabiliteettia sekä mittarin rakenne-, kriteeri- ja ryhmien erotteluvaliditeettia. Aineistossa oli terveyteen...
Article
Full-text available
This study had two aims. First, we examined whether lunch break settings, activities, and recovery experiences were associated with lunchtime recovery cross-sectionally. Second, we investigated whether lunchtime recovery was related to energy levels (i.e., exhaustion and vigor) across a 12-month period. We collected longitudinal questionnaire data...
Presentation
1. Introduction Places to which individuals are attached, and those associated with positive memories, are hypothesised to be restorative in times of stress and mental fatigue (e.g. Ulrich, 1983; Korpela, 1989). However, beyond study of favourite places and restoration (e.g. Korpela, Hartig, Kaiser, & Fuhrer, 2001), this relationship remains unders...
Article
Full-text available
This one-year follow-up study (N = 841) investigated the relationship between boundary crossing behavior from work to non-work and work-related rumination (i.e., affective rumination, problem-solving pondering and lack of psychological detachment from work during off-job time). This relationship is important to examine as work-related rumination is...
Article
Full-text available
Studies on the positive effects of interacting with green space on those with depression are few. This pilot study used nature walks as a part of the "Coping with Depression" program in a single-group within-subject time series design (N = 13). Every second meeting was held outdoors in urban green space and every second indoors. We measured depress...
Article
Full-text available
The aim of the present study conducted among 1,106 Finnish employees was to identify boundary management profiles based on cross-role interruption behaviors from work to nonwork and from nonwork to work. Adopting a person-oriented approach through latent profile analysis, five profiles were identified: Work Guardians (21% of the employees), Nonwork...
Chapter
It has been shown that recovery (i.e., unwinding from one’s job demands) is important for reducing the negative effects of job stress. Consequently, poor recovery from job stress deserves research attention as a risk factor in the job stress–strain relationship. Recovery can occur both during free time (i.e., evenings, weekends, vacations) and with...
Article
The environment surrounding residences and its recreational and commuting opportunities are believed to affect human health and well-being. To provide scientific evidence for the mechanisms of influence of the types of environments on human well-being, this study examined how the presence of and access to green spaces is related to the level of phy...
Article
We examined energy management during work, recovery experiences after work and their connections to health, work engagement, and job performance. An online survey was completed by 1208 Finnish employees. Energy management was assessed through 13 strategies and recovery experiences through four experiences. As outcomes of recovery, we examined self-...
Article
Purpose: The present study aimed at identifying subgroups of employees with similar daily energy management strategies at work and finding out whether well-being indicators and job characteristics differ between these subgroups. Methods: The study was conducted by electronic questionnaire among 1,122 Finnish employees. First, subgroups of employee...
Technical Report
Full-text available
It is empirically known that nature-based therapy using forests, parks, and gardens confers health beneets on humans, particularly in case of stress. In this research the improving eeects of forest therapy on physiological relaxation and immune function have recently become clearer. However, there are few evidence-based studies documenting the heal...
Article
Full-text available
Background: A body of evidence shows that both physical activity and exposure to nature are connected to improved general and mental health. Experimental studies have consistently found short term positive effects of physical activity in nature compared with built environments. This study explores whether these benefits are also evident in everyday...
Article
Full-text available
This paper summarizes the discussions from the Natural Environments Initiative meeting hosted by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies in October 2013. It presents ongoing worldwide research on health benefits stemming from exposure to natural...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This paper summarizes the discussions from the Natural Environments Initiative meeting hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health and the Environment and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies in October 2013. It presents ongoing worldwide research on health benefits stemming from exposure to natural envi...
Article
Full-text available
This is an illustrative review on studies revealing the restorative, i.e. stress-reducing, effects of natural settings. We focus on the effects of viewing or being physically active in the natural setting and the effects of indoor plants and window views on restoration and recovery. These themes represent interesting and potentially fruitful areas...
Data
Appendix 1. Scale for emotional well-being (RAND-36 subscale; Hays et al., 1992), Scale for general activity (adapted from Saltin & Grimby, 1968).
Data
Appendix 2a. Correlations between the observed independent variables (Spearman if one or both of the variable pair are ordinal, Pearson in italics), n = 2070. Appendix 2b. Spearman correlations between the outcome variables (emotional well-being as the summary score of the five RAND-36 items), n = 2070.
Data
Appendix 3a. Diagram of model 1. χ2 = 405, df = 25, p < 0.0001, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.09. Only significant (p < 0.05) connections are shown (arrows). The regression coefficients between independent and dependent variables are provided in Table 3. Appendix 3b. Diagram of model 2. χ2 = 388, df = 29, p < 0.0001, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.08. Only signific...
Article
Full-text available
The present study investigated the well-being effects of short-term forest walking and viewing ("forest bathing"). The hypothesis in our study was that both environment (forest vs. urban) and activity (walking and viewing) would influence psychological outcomes. An additional aim was to enhance basic research using several psychological methods. We...
Article
Attention restoration theory (ART) provides fruitful concepts for the investigation of the role of lighting in psychological and attention restoration. The present field study explores the idea that different outdoor lighting qualities may affect the perceived restorativeness of the night-time environment. It studies the relationships between the f...
Article
Full-text available
Background The objective of this research project is to understand and to improve workers’ recovery from work stress. Although recovery during lunch breaks is the most common within-workday break, it has received only minor research attention. Therefore, we will study whether lunch breaks including a relaxation session or exposure to nature have mo...
Chapter
According to the restorative environments framework, after emotional or cognitive stress, solitude and being alone with nature can be considered a desirable state with positive effects. These positive effects include physiological recovery and relaxation, change to positive self-reported emotions, and recovery of the ability for attention-demanding...
Article
The evidence concerning the relative importance of physical activity, restorative experiences, and social interaction as mediators between exposure to nature and well-being has been inconsistent. We investigated whether there is a relationship between the average time used for nature-based recreation and emotional well-being and whether it is media...
Article
The evidence concerning the relative importance of physical activity, restorative experiences, and social interaction as mediators between exposure to nature and well-being has been inconsistent. We investigated whether there is a relationship between the average time used for nature-based recreation and emotional well-being and whether it is media...
Article
This study investigated the psychological (perceived restorativeness, subjective vitality, mood, creativity) and physiological (salivary cortisol concentration) effects of short-term visits to urban nature environments. Seventy-seven participants visited three different types of urban areas; a built-up city centre (as a control environment), an urb...