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The importance of connection to nature in assessing environmental education programs
... This shift is, in part, due to accumulating empirical evidence supporting the cultural approach. For example, psychological studies have found that individuals with a stronger sense of interdependence are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviors (Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Restall and Conrad, 2015). Environmental studies have reported that societies with prevalent senses of interdependence tend to have lower environmental impacts (Komatsu et al., 2019(Komatsu et al., , 2021. ...
... However, contemporary research, built out of newly available global datasets on society, education and ecological footprint, has since provided substantial empirical support. The earliest of these studies primarily focused on individual-level pro-environmental behaviors, revealing a positive correlation with the interdependent worldview(Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Restall and Conrad, 2015;Komatsu et al., 2022a). Subsequent research then expanded to the societal level, demonstrating correlations between the interdependent worldview and pro-environmental behaviors, as well as tangible environmental impacts like ecological footprint(Komatsu et al., 2019(Komatsu et al., , 2021. ...
... ). 1 Empirical evidence questions the effectiveness of environmental stewardship approaches. Psychological studies have revealed that individuals with a strong sense of independence and superiority are less likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviors(Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Restall and Conrad, 2015;Komatsu et al., 2022a). case of Japan: shift from independence to interdependence in Japan This section explores the historical shift in the Japanese elementary curriculum, from an emphasis on independence to interdependence. ...
As the need for shifting dominant worldviews to address environmental sustainability becomes more urgent, animism is increasingly recognized as a valuable cultural resource. While scholars are exploring how to incorporate animism into modern education, Japan began incorporating Indigenous animistic stories into its elementary language curriculum over a half century ago in response to domestic environmental challenges. Today, these animistic stories constitute a major pillar Japan’s school curriculum. The major themes of these stories are rejection of human superiority and encouragement of human-nature interdependence. In highlighting the Japanese case and exploring these stories for the first time in the English language, this piece intends to (i) inspire those seeking to integrate similar methods into formal education curricula in other contexts, and (ii) promote, on a worldwide scale, greater sensitivity to how the underlying meanings and messages found in language curriculum and textbooks connect (or fail to connect) to environmental concerns. This work also connects to recent theoretical appeals to ‘reclaim Animism’ and re-story the world: alternative approaches to education in the Anthropocene that go beyond scientific solutionism and focus on cultural change.
... The preference for contextual and personal tactics may indicate that individuals aged 18-29 are more driven to participate to give back to and connect with their community (Ballew et al. 2015;Van Vugt et al. 2014;Marcus et al. 2011;Van Vugt 2002) and their own personal goals and connection to nature (Frantz and Mayer 2014;Nisbet et al. 2009;Ballew et al. 2015;Tam 2013;Mayer et al. 2008) rather than social influences such as injunctive and descriptive norms (Ballew et al. 2015). ...
... This finding suggests that regardless of the condition in which individuals exist, the contextual and personal framings are more effective on likelihood of intention to participate. Aligning with the previous findings, this suggests that individuals in both conditions have a greater likelihood of intention to participate in response to framings which draw upon their connection to community, desire to give back to their community (e.g., Ballew et al. 2015;Van Vugt et al. 2014;Marcus et al. 2011;Van Vugt 2002;Scannell and Gifford 2010;Halpenny 2010), the potential achievement of their own personal goals (Ballew et al. 2015), and their individual connection to the environment (Frantz and Mayer 2014;Nisbet et al. 2009;Tam 2013;Mayer et al. 2008). ...
... Similar to the findings for likelihood of intention to participate, these findings indicate a consistent greater influence of the wording used in the contextual and personal framing between both conditions. This finding supports the aforementioned preference for the use of connection to community (e.g., Ballew et al. 2015;Van Vugt et al. 2014;Marcus et al. 2011;Van Vugt 2002;Scannell and Gifford 2010;Halpenny 2010) and personal goals (e.g., Frantz and Mayer 2014;Nisbet et al. 2009;Tam 2013;Mayer et al. 2008) in influencing the target audience. ...
Complexity, uncertainty, and conflict characterize contemporary environmental challenges. Addressing these issues is beyond the purview of any one actor. A collaborative approach to environmental management is required; participation in collaboration is needed. However, participation in collaborative environmental management is a persistent challenge in practice. This research examines tactics used to engender participation in collaborations. Tactics constitute a strategy for communications with an intended goal and encompass the framing (i.e., wording, imagery) and platform of dissemination. This research examined the influence of tactics on an intention to participate in an environmental management collaboration. Eight tactics were empirically tested on 300 individuals aged 18–29. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was undertaken. Results uncovered the effectiveness of contextual and personal framings in engendering participation and deepened the understanding about past participation, tactics, and an individual’s intention to participate. Opportunities to engender participation in collaborations using tactics are abundant. The research emphasizes the need for greater attention to tactics in environmental management and contributes to a greater understanding of tactics, identifying effective practices for engendering participation and broad dissemination.
... Martin and Czellar (2017) recently established a link between connectedness to nature and biospheric values, marking the first connection of these otherwise largely independent concepts. Individuals who experience a profound emotional bond with nature view the natural environment, as an essential component of their identity, thereby exhibiting a greater inclination to protect it (Brügger et al., 2011;Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Martin & Czellar, 2017;Warner & Diaz, 2021). Currently, CTN is employed to elucidate various proenvironmental behaviors, especially in agricultural and extension education (Mayer & Frantz, 2004;Gill et al., 2022). ...
... Research suggests a notable correlation between individuals' connectedness to nature and their inclination to safeguard it (Brügger et al., 2011;Dutcher et al., 2007;Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Mackay & Schmitt, 2019;Mayer & Frantz, 2004). Several assessment tools have been developed to measure this concept, including the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Frantz & Mayer, 2014), the Connection to Nature Index (Cheng & Monroe, 2010), the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (Schultz, 2002), and the Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009). ...
... Research suggests a notable correlation between individuals' connectedness to nature and their inclination to safeguard it (Brügger et al., 2011;Dutcher et al., 2007;Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Mackay & Schmitt, 2019;Mayer & Frantz, 2004). Several assessment tools have been developed to measure this concept, including the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Frantz & Mayer, 2014), the Connection to Nature Index (Cheng & Monroe, 2010), the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (Schultz, 2002), and the Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009). Among these, the Connection to Nature Scale (CNS) stands out for its foundation in the concept of land ethic, evaluating individuals' emotional attachment and sense of parity with the natural world (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). ...
... Rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja potvrđuju da postoji odnos (mjerenja) povezanosti s prirodom i sociodemografskih varijabli, spola (posebice ženskog), kulture, obitelji, odgoja i obrazovanja, posebice šumskih vrtića, uloge učitelja i roditelja, identiteta, ponašanja, stavova, vrijednosti, zdrave prehrane, zadovoljstva životom, sreće i dr. (Maller i sur., 2006;Cheng i Monroe, 2012;Nisbet i Zelenski, 2013;Capaldi i sur., 2014;Frantz i Mayer, 2014;Otto i Pensini, 2017;Balundė, i sur., 2019;Richardson i sur., 2019;Sobko, Brown i Cheng, 2020;Rosa i sur., 2018;Martin i sur., 2020;Price i sur., 2022;Cont i sur., 2023). Od rezultata se posebno ističe podatak da je "optimalno razdoblje" za razvoj "povezanosti s prirodom" upravo razdoblje ranog i srednjeg djetinjstva jer se odrastanjem i s višim razinama školovanja "povezanost s prirodom" smanjuje (Barrable, 2019;Chawla, 2020;Mustapa i sur., 2021; Grabowska-Chenczke i sur., 2022; Price i sur., 2022). ...
... Iz negativnog predznaka regresijskog koeficijenta moguće je zaključiti da je riječ o muškim ispitanicima i učenicima koji pohađaju predmetnu nastavu. Iz dobivenih rezultata moguće je ustvrditi da se onda povezanost s prirodom smanjuje s uzrastom ispitanika, što je u suglasju s prethodnim istraživanjima (Frantz i Mayer, 2014;Price i sur., 2022). No svakako bi trebalo posebno ispitati varijablu dob i potvrditi taj rezultat. ...
... Činjenica da se u predmetnoj nastavi smanjuje stupanj povezanosti s prirodom i procjene stavova o okolišu govore u prilog tome da bi trebalo u budućnosti svakako značajnije sagledati odgojno-obrazovne prakse, posebice ostvarenost ishoda učenja, odnosno odgojno-obrazovnih očekivanja kurikuluma, međupredmetne teme Održivi razvoj, ali i drugih predmetnih kurikuluma. Odgoj i obrazovanje i učitelji doprinose formiranju pozitivnih stavova o okolišu, kao i povezanosti s prirodom, što potvrđuju brojna istraživanja (Liefländer, 2013;Mayer i Frantz, 2014;Otto i Pensini, 2017;Barrable i Booth, 2020). Statistički značajne razlike koje su dobivene u odnosu na razred učenika i rezultati regresijske analize pokazuju da postoji razlika u stupnju povezanosti s prirodom koju je moguće povezati s razlikom u implementaciji 2. i 3. ciklusa tog kurikuluma, iako se to ne može tvrditi na temelju ovih rezultata. ...
Previous research has confirmed the importance of measuring the level of connectedness to nature and its relationship to the development of positive emotions, pro-environmental attitudes, and behaviors towards nature. Research also suggests that connectedness to nature declines in adolescence and that family, teachers, and educational practice may be important factors in promoting significant development of connectedness to nature in school children. This paper presents research whose first objective was to examine the measurement indicators of validity and reliability of Mayer and Frantz’s (2004) “Connectedness to Nature Scale” in samples of Croatian and Slovenian schoolchildren, parents, and teachers, as well as the “Attitudes Toward the Environment Scale” in samples of schoolchildren. The second objective of the research was to examine the relationship between the level of connectedness to nature of pupils, teachers, and parents, pupils’ attitudes towards the environment, and their socio-demographic variables. The research sample consisted of a total of 1345 participants, pupils (N=762), their parents (N=568), and teachers (N=115) in primary schools in Croatia and Slovenia. The measurement indicators were determined for both scales in all three participant samples. Bivariate correlation analysis, non-parametric tests to determine differences between groups of participants, and multiple regression analysis were performed. Both scales yielded satisfactory measures of content validity and reliability. High arithmetic estimates for the degree of connectedness to nature were determined for all three samples. The results of the regression analysis indicate that the level of connectedness to nature of parents and teachers, as well as pupils’ attitudes towards the environment, help to explain pupils’ connectedness to nature, but also that the level of connectedness to nature “decreases” in relation to male gender and classroom teaching. The results of this study confirm previous research and have important implications, not only as a stimulus for future research, but also for future educational efforts in schools.
... Environmental psychology theories are the basis of this study. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that the physical attributes of a natural environment have a direct impact on the psychophysiological well-being or discomfort experienced by individuals (Stern, 2000;Dutcher et al., 2007;Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Arendt and Matthes, 2016). To establish a sort of collaboration and mutual closeness with nature and other forms of life is a natural human propensity, with positive consequences for well-being on the one hand and for the care of the environment on the other. ...
... The Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), developed by Frantz and Mayer (2014), consist of 14 items that are rated on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from "completely disagree" to "completely agree. " The CNS assesses the affective experience of individuals in relation to their connection with nature. ...
... These results are in accordance with our assumptions that connection to nature is strongly linked with the adoption of behaviors protecting the environment. A general perspective of this work, therefore, is that if people feel connected to nature, they will be less prone to damage it, motivate commitment to pro-environmental behaviors and encourage protection of the natural world (Tam, 2013;Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Olivos and Clayton, 2017;White et al., 2017). Conversely, disconnection to nature is associated to more general sense of apathy toward environmental degradation (Pyle, 2003). ...
Environmental issues are at the center of the political and cultural debate, representing one of the greatest challenges of our century. Sustainability and pro-environmental conducts are recognized as increasingly urgent to address the decay of ecosystems. To support the acquisition of attitudes that give greater consideration to environmental issues, experiencing a sense of connection with nature has been acknowledged in psychology as a particularly relevant individual component. Among the most commonly used scales in Anglo-Saxon context to analyses this feeling is the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) assessing the emotional and experiential bond between humans and nature. To examine the reliability and validity of this scale in the Italian context, a study including 271 Italian adults (44,3% female; 55% males; Mean age = 34.70; SD = 13.584; age-range = 18-65 years) was conducted to establish evidence supporting the internal consistency of the CNS, as well as its ability to measure convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that CNS in Italian has a single-factor structure as reported in the original version by Mayer and Frantz. Furthermore, as expected, positive correlations were observed between the CNS and pro-environmental attitudes and negative correlations with civic moral disengagement. Finally, as assumed, the CNS positively correlated with mental well-being. A broad vision of this study concerns the idea that individuals who have a stronger connection with nature are likely to exhibit reduced tendencies to cause harm to it.
... Other studies have shown that EE positively affects knowledge of environmental problems and their solutions engender individual concern, willingness to participate and eventual pro-environmental participatory actions (Suárez-Perales et al. 2021); boosts positive emotional attachment to place and stimulates environmentally responsible behaviour (Chen 2020); and capable of potentially reversing environmental degradation (Gao 2018). An earlier review by Frantz and Mayer (2014) recognises that EE could change beliefs, among other impacts like promoting learners' connectedness to nature. Conversely, Castro et al. (2014) indicate that environmental knowledge did not affect adolescent students' pro-environmental behaviour. ...
... Future studies should capture prior environmental knowledge and the sources of environmental knowledge possessed by participants to better evidence the impact of an evaluated program. Again, including variables such as the connectedness to nature (Frantz and Mayer 2014) and the distinction of forms of environmental knowledge (Frick, Kaiser, and Wilson 2004) of respondents would provide a broader scope for future studies. ...
This research investigated the role of environmental education (EE) in acquiring environmental knowledge, pro-environmental beliefs and pro-environmental behaviours among a sample of pre-service teachers who undertook an EE course (n = 177) and those who did not undertake an EE course (n = 203) in a Nigerian university. Results showed that pre-service teachers who received the EE course had higher environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behaviour than their counterparts who did not take the EE course. Moreover, pre-service teachers who did not take the EE course had higher pro-environmental beliefs than their counterparts who received the EE course. However, the recorded mean differences were minor and not statistically significant. Also, the relationships between environmental knowledge, pro-environmental beliefs and pro-environmental behaviours were not significant. The implications of these findings call for EE policies and practices anchored on promoting personal environmental norms and citizenship and updated capacity building for EE educators.
... Analogous to biophilia, nature relatedness can be considered as the subconscious drive experienced by humans to connect with all life (Wilson, 2010). There is a notable lack of interventions which can foster robust and continued enhancements in nature relatedness (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). There is arguably a need for interventions capable of doing so to improve both planetary and human health (Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Martin et al., 2020;Zylstra et al., 2014). ...
... There is a notable lack of interventions which can foster robust and continued enhancements in nature relatedness (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). There is arguably a need for interventions capable of doing so to improve both planetary and human health (Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Martin et al., 2020;Zylstra et al., 2014). ...
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic plant brew originating from the Amazon Rainforest. It is formed from two basic components, the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, and a plant containing the potent psychedelic dimethyltryptamine (DMT), usually Psychotria viridis. There has been a dramatic increase in interest surrounding ayahuasca since the turn of the millennium. Increasing numbers of tourists are travelling to the Amazon rainforest to drink the brew, with various media outlets, celebrities, and researchers describing benefit from its consumption. Ayahuasca is now present in every continent and retreat centres offering plant medicine experiences in the Amazon rainforest has become a thriving business. Anecdotal evidence varies significantly, ranging from evangelical accounts to horror stories involving physical and psychological harm. This thesis comprises five studies investigating Amazonian ayahuasca use. Initially, the pharmacology of the brew is explored in the form of a systematic review, concluding complex synergistic mechanisms may be present, although further research is needed. The remaining studies utilise observational methodology, investigating the impact of ayahuasca retreats following a traditional Shipibo lineage adapted for ayahuasca tourists in the Peruvian Amazon. The effects of the brew on personality, mental health outcomes, epigenetics, and nature relatedness are documented. Further, a phenomenological analysis of the ayahuasca experience is included. The research in this thesis is amongst the first to investigate Shipibo-style ayahuasca retreats in the Peruvian Amazon. Various ethical issues surrounding the increasing popularity of the brew and potential medicalisation are also discussed. It is hoped that this research will add to the growing body of knowledge surrounding the potential therapeutic effects of ayahuasca, whilst considering risks, ethics, and wider applications.
... Additionally, the UGGps routes are enhanced by the inclusion of museums, interpretation centers, historical sites, and other locations that directly bridge society with geology (Henriques & Brilha, 2017;Henriques, Canales, García-Frank, & Gomez-Heras, 2020). All of this culminates in a grand exhibition of the interconnectedness between nature and humanity (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). Despite the fact that UGGps attract millions of visitors annually, it is noteworthy that their educational aspect and potential remain largely unknown to the scientific community. ...
The current trend in education is to adopt a direct and efficient system that adapts to the needs of students at all levels. This approach emphasizes the importance of creating an accessible and enjoyable learning environment that integrates with the social context. The main purpose of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the educational contribution of UGGps, irrespective of their level, origin, or purpose of visit, beyond the acquisition of knowledge. The UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGps) are recognized as educational models in the field of geosciences and sustainability due to their territorial management plan and purpose. This study examines the activities carried out in the Arouca and Estrela UGGps in Portugal, using validated questionnaires to gather feedback from students and teachers. The analysis aims to identify the strengths, challenges, and overall effectiveness of these UGGps as an alternative approach to multidisciplinary education. With a total sample of 325 students and 167 teachers, the results, from the students and teachers perspective, show a positive and valid environment for multilevel education reflected on a positive answer rate of 86% among students and 88% among teachers. As it is shown in the results, UGGps are valid territories for multilevel teaching of Earth Sciences and many other subjects. This conclusions represent a great opportunity to promote heritage protection and sustainable development education from these territories, something that, in fact, is extremely relevant in the social context in which we find ourselves.
... Florida State University has explored how environmental education enhances students' environmental awareness [65], attitudes, and behaviours and how outdoor education programs and practices promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development [66]. Finally, Ohio State University's research has focused on exploring the effects of experiential learning, environmental education, and outdoor education programs on enhancing changes in students' environmental awareness, skills, and behaviour [67][68][69]. ...
Utilizing the Web of Science database as a retrieval source, this study employs CiteSpace software to conduct a visualization analysis of 8380 documents related to outdoor education published from 1994 to 2023. The findings reveal a phased increase in the volume of outdoor education research, with a shift in research themes from environmental governance to environmental education, ultimately concentrating on education for sustainable development that is characterized by significant temporal features. Initially dominated by publications from Europe and North America, the geographical distribution of research has gradually expanded globally. The core research theme centres around environmental education, with experiential education, outdoor learning, and education for sustainable development evolving concurrently. The network structure of research collaboration predominantly involves higher education institutions, with a noticeable shift from limited disciplinary research to interdisciplinary integration across multiple fields.
... Irrespective of the different names and conceptions, Brügger et al. (2011;see and Tam, 2013) corroborated a close convergence of measures of several of these concepts and their relevance for environmental protection. In this line of research, engagement in protecting the environment has typically been captured via self-reports (see, e.g., Clayton, 2003;Kals et al., 1999;Markowitz et al., 2012;Nisbet et al., 2008) but also via behavioral observations (see Whitburn et al., 2019) or observations of the consequences of behavior (i.e., energy consumption; see Frantz and Mayer, 2014). ...
Attitude toward nature and environmental attitude are two distinct propensities that both further learning about the environment. The present study builds upon prior research by investigating the role of attitude toward nature in learning about environmental issues. In a sample of 1,486 university, middle and high school students ( M age = 15.25, SD = 3.2), we first calibrated a pool of items expressing attitude toward nature. We found differences in how adolescents expressed their appreciation for nature at different ages. It is essential to consider these differences to accurately ascertain adolescents’ attitudes toward nature. We then conducted a mediation test. Whereas attitude toward nature determined the levels of knowledge students gained and retained, environmental attitude fully mediated the environmental knowledge subsequently demonstrated by the students. Our research suggests that researchers and educators may benefit from taking an experiential approach to learning about sustainable development by promoting appreciation for nature.
... (2020) yang menyatakan bahwa individu yang semasa kanakkanaknya sering berinteraksi dengan alam, maka akan membangun keterhubungan dirinya dengan alam ketika dewasa. Adanya rasa keterhubungan dengan alam ini yang mendorong individu bersedia untuk melindungi alam dan terlibat dalam perilaku pro-lingkungan (Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Pensini dkk., 2016). Hal ini dikarenakan interaksi dengan alam yang dilakukan sejak kecil lama-kelamaan akan membentuk suatu habits untuk menjaga alam, sehingga ketika individu dewasa ia akan terbiasa melakukan kegiatan yang pro lingkungan. ...
Perubahan iklim saat ini menjadi salah satu momok dunia, sebab merupakan masalah yang kompleks dan mendesak untuk ditangani. Banyak dampak negatif yang ditimbulkan dari perubahan iklim tersebut. Perilaku manusia menjadi kontributor terbanyak dalam peningkatan perubahan iklim. Oleh karena itu, manusia perlu sadar untuk menjaga alam. Salah satunya bersedia untuk berkontribusi dalam konservasi energi. Namun, untuk menumbuhkan perilaku tersebut perlu adanya faktor-faktor pendukung, seperti climate change perception dan nature relatedness. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji peran climate change perception dan nature relatedness terhadap terbentuknya kesediaan untuk melakukan konservasi energi. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan kuantitatif korelasional dengan teknik analisis regresi. Temuan ini menunjukkan adanya korelasi simultan antara climate change perception dan nature relatedness dengan pembentukan kesediaan untuk melakukan konservasi energi. Hasil dari temuan ini berkontribusi dalam memberikan tambahan pengetahuan dan gambaran mengenai bagaimana climate change perception dan nature relatedness mampu membentuk kesediaan individu untuk melakukan konservasi energi. Abstract. Climate change has become one of the world's most daunting challenges, as it presents a complex, urgent issue requiring immediate attention. Numerous negative impacts arise from climate change, primarily accelerated by human behavior. Therefore, individuals must be aware of the need to preserve nature and be willing to participate in energy conservation efforts. However, fostering such behavior necessitates supportive factors, such as climate change perception and nature-relatedness. This study examines the roles of climate change perception and nature-relatedness in shaping the willingness to engage in energy conservation. The research adopts a quantitative correlational approach, utilizing regression analysis techniques. The findings indicate a simultaneous correlation between climate change perception and nature-relatedness in fostering the willingness to engage in energy conservation. The results of this study enhance knowledge and provide insights into how climate change perception and nature-relatedness shape individuals' willingness to engage in energy conservation.
... Secondly, Environmental awareness refers to natural environment problems and linked to people's actions (Frantz and Mayer, 2014). Measurement of environmental awareness adopted from study (Li, 2018) and there are two items to measure environmental knowledge i.e., environmental problem and personal responsibility. ...
The study investigates the impact of electric vehicle (EV) technology on Indonesia's automotive industry and economy, emphasizing EVs' role in emission reduction. Factors affecting EV uptake, including purchasing behavior and environmental awareness, are analyzed, contributing to the theory of planned behavior. Data from 136 respondents were collected through surveys, revealing positive correlations between environmental awareness, knowledge, attitude, and purchase intent. Price affordability emerges as an intervening variable. The study offers insights for the gradual integration of EVs into Indonesia's automotive sector, highlighting initiatives by both manufacturers and the government, such as introducing EV options and implementing regulations related to energy, charging infrastructure, and taxation. This research underscores the importance of addressing consumer perceptions and market dynamics to facilitate the transition toward electric mobility in Indonesia.
... Nature outreach interventions in higher education seems to be crucial in promoting and encouraging students to approach and value natural environments. Moreover, environmental education activities inside and outside universities can be important means for repositioning CN in adults (Frantz & Mayer, 2014), as well as encouraging pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors that problematize detachment and so-called nature deficit disorder (Fletcher, 2017;Louv, 2016). ...
O contato com os ambientes naturais é essencial para a constituição da Conexão com a Natureza (CN), um apego subjetivo à natureza, que por sua vez é fonte de benefícios para a saúde integral dos humanos. O tipo e a frequência de contato com ambientes naturais podem variar por diversos motivos. No âmbito laboral, a escolha da formação profissional pode se constituir em um indicativo de Conexão com a Natureza (CN). Para compreender a possível associação da formação acadêmica e níveis de CN, este estudo envolveu profissionais de várias áreas. Os 295 participantes responderam a um questionário virtual com dados sociodemográficos e escalas de CN. Nos dois estudos conduzidos confirma-se que a área de graduação e de pós-graduação dos profissionais são fatores que afetam a CN dos adultos, juntamente com um histórico de convívio positivo com a natureza tido na infância. Os resultados confirmam ainda que profissionais das áreas ambientais possuem níveis de CN maiores do que os de humanidades.
... Environmental education is a powerful tool for engaging children and encouraging them to participate in pro-environmental behaviors (Ardoin et al., 2020;Heimlich, 2010). A primary objective of environmental education programs is to create direct experiences with nature that enhance the relationships children have with the outdoors and induce stewardship behavior (Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Stern et al., 2014). Contact with non-human species can increase the effectiveness of an educational program by stimulating both empathy with the species and broader care for the environment (Hicks & Stewart, 2020). ...
... In urban environments, where disconnection from nature could be more prevalent, interventions should focus on creating opportunities for meaningful nature experiences. The previous underscores the importance of urban natural spaces in fostering a sense of connectedness with nature [25,63]. Integrating natural elements into urban planning to enhance connectedness with nature has significant implications for public health and well-being. ...
Connectedness with nature is considered a key element for the future of conservation. There are both internal and external factors that determine the levels of connectedness with nature. Among these factors are gender, age, knowledge about the environment and place of residence. In the latter case, there may be differences in how urban and rural dwellers perceive nature, based on their experiences and contact with it. The main objective of this research is to evaluate and establish the factors that influence and determine the levels of connection with nature, examining how these factors relate and interact with each other, taking the urban and rural context as starting point. The ABC-CNS scale, which addresses the affective, behavioural and cognitive aspects of the connection with nature, was applied via online questionnaire to a sample of university students from two countries, Spain (496 students) and Ecuador (872 students), who were also clustered according to career, age, gender, and place of residence. The results obtained through four General Linear Mixed Models (ABC-CNS and its dimensions as response variables) and LSD test, demonstrated that the ABC-CNS scale presented significant differences for all the variables analyzed (place of residence, gender, age, and career), also demonstrating which levels influence and interact in higher ABC-CNS values. Finally, the study concludes that the analyzed factors contribute to the development of the connection with nature. In the case of place of residence, attention should be given to the specific settings of the environments under study.
... Os vínculos com a natureza dizem respeito à ligação cultural e cognitiva com a natureza, conectando-se à autorresponsabilidade sobre comportamentos maléficos com a natureza, ao cuidado, interligado a aspectos socioculturais do local de pertença, principalmente a questões particulares de um grupo social, promovendo vínculos de proteção ambiental e conservação dos recursos naturais (Silva & Araújo-de-Almeida, 2016). A dimensão afetiva consiste no sentimento de intimidade, familiaridade e aproximação com a natureza, através de sensações emotivas que geram conexão e laços pela empatia com o mundo natural, gerando relação de cuidado com a natureza (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). ...
O objetivo do estudo consiste em uma revisão sistemática qualitativa, com uso da recomendação PRISMA, para identificar e selecionar criticamente a literatura nas bases de dados Web of Science, SciELO e Scopus, usando os descritores: “Connect* OR Behavio* AND Natur* OR Environmen* AND Child*”. Os procedimentos metodológicos estruturados de análise e síntese dos dados foram baseados no protocolo de Síntese de Evidências Qualitativas - SEQ. Os dados foram tabulados e são apresentados em tabelas. A SEQ demonstra que os estudos de conexão entre criança e natureza destacam tal conexão como fator que influencia positivamente o desenvolvimento de crianças, principalmente no sentido de se autoperceberem com a natureza, ajudando a entender a relação entre criança e natureza, na importância dessa interação para um desenvolvimento pleno da criança, podendo resultar em comportamentos pró-ambientais na unidade de conservação estudada.
... Extensive theoretical and empirical studies in the literature identify human-nature disconnect as a consequence of modern, urban, technological, and increasingly digital lifestyles that leads to humanity's abuse of nature. Cultivating 'connectedness to nature' as part of the individual's identity is key to nurturing positive emotions regarding the natural environment and embracing environmentally responsible behaviors (e.g., [66][67][68][69]). ...
Agricultural education is a fertile framework for environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Hence, ‘farm-schools’, which are learning settings around agriculture, can and should play a crucial role in promoting ESE. Farm-school teachers are key to realizing this potential. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the perspectives of farm-school teachers concerning the role of farm schools in conducting ESE and their role as environmental and sustainability educators. The research employed a mixed methodology. Quantitative data from close-ended sections of the questionnaire enabled evaluation of the teachers’ environmental literacy and citizenship attributes, which are fundamental for their capacity to incorporate ESE within their teaching. Open-ended sections of the questionnaire and interviews provided in-depth information regarding the teachers’ perspectives and practices concerning ESE (content, values, and pedagogies) within the framework of farm schools. Findings indicate that these teachers have pro-environmental dispositions in their individual lives and as educators and that they incorporate ESE within their teaching, but they exhibit a relatively narrow perspective regarding ESE, focusing largely on content knowledge, with limited focus on values discourse. Providing professional development tailored to the specific attributes and needs of these agriculture teachers will strengthen their capacities in teaching the strategies inherent to ESE, such as facilitating in-depth critical discourse around socio-environmental dilemmas. This will contribute to realizing the full potential of farm schools in terms of contributing to the crucial area of ESE within the educational system, employing agriculture as the curricular platform.
... They concluded that guided tours can be an effective way to increase connection to nature. According to Frantz and Mayer (2014), increasing people's connection to nature should be an important goal of environmental education. Furthermore, EAZA expects that its member zoos strive to connect people to nature. ...
Regular evaluation of environmental education is important for quality assurance and the self-assessment of educational institutions such as zoos. However, capacity is often lacking. Therefore, this study presents instruments that can be used to track the impact of educational programs on connection to nature, interest in species conservation, environmental concern, and attitude toward biodiversity loss. Questionnaires were used before (N T1 = 674) and after (N T2 = 619) different educational programs in nine different zoos. Factor analyses were conducted to control for how the scales performed in the zoo context and with visitors of different ages in a pre-post setting. The results showed that the adjusted instruments work well with a few adaptations. Interest in species conservation can be measured as an overall 6-item construct. Biodiversity loss attitude can be measured using a 5-item scale. Using a shortened version of the Environmental Motives Scale, environmental concern was found to be three-dimensional, as intended, and can distinguish effects on egoistic, biospheric, and altruistic concern in zoos. Hence, the scales presented can be used for evaluation purposes and are even applicable beyond zoos.
... One goal of OEE programs is to support youth in cultivating comfort in nature and a better understanding of environmental systems and humans' role therein (Frantz and Mayer 2014). Study findings illustrated that overall OEE programs had a significant impact on youth's Comfort in Nature, with larger effects for girls and youth of color, and the strongest effects for girls of color, in particular. ...
Outdoor environmental education (OEE) programs can provide a valuable entry point for youth of color and
girls who may have felt excluded and/or marginalized from traditional science learning experiences. This study
investigated: (1) Can OEE programs contribute to the development of positive dispositions toward science and
the environment?, and (2) Are there differences in effects by racial/ethnic and gender identity, or interactions
thereof? Youth (n = 457; grades 4-6, approximate ages 9-12) reported their dispositions toward science and the
environment along 5 scales before and after participating in OEE programs. Results found growth across all
subscales for youth overall. Girls showed stronger effects than boys, and youth of color showed stronger
effects than White youth. Girls of color showed particularly strong growth in Comfort in Nature. The
implications of these results, particularly as a challenge to long-standing biases and inequities in the field, are discussed.
... It is also sometimes defined as an individual's tendency to include nature in their idea of self (Schultz, 2002). Higher levels of connection to nature, sometimes called nature relatedness (Zelenski & Nisbet, 2014), are linked to a higher likelihood of engaging in environmentally-oriented behaviours in both children and adults (Chawla, 2020;Cheng & Monroe, 2010;Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Hughes et al. 2018;Whitburn et al. 2020). An individual's connection to nature seems to be strongly influenced by family values (Oh et al. 2021). ...
... C2N is viewed broadly and put forward as a crucial component in a movement toward an increase in societal environmental responsibility (Schultz, 2002;Chawla, 2020), facilitating a human mindset change from an ego-centric toward an eco-centric worldview, resulting in the development of ecological attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors (Nisbet et al., 2009;Frantz and Mayer, 2014). Further, C2N is found to correlate positively with better learning capabilities (Eshach and Fried, 2005), increased working memory (Schilhab, 2021), and an increase in physical and mental health and eudemonic wellbeing (Nisbet and Zelenski, 2011;Capaldi et al., 2014), making it an attractive objective for a wide variety of groups such as parents, educators, health professionals, and landscape planners. ...
The spatial aspect of access to nature experience is considered a key factor for studying school-age educare and connectedness to nature. While the standard approach for questions of connectedness to nature is to study at the individual level using methods such as observations, psychometric scaling, and interviews, less common are spatial methods applied to structural or collective aspects of these questions; connectedness to nature study rarely considers the human relationship with nature across sociocultural/structural/institutional levels. Spatial analysis is presented as a step toward a broader consideration of connectedness to nature; careful consideration of connectedness to nature/disconnection must explore the forces beyond the individual shaping access and opportunity. Specifically, the study considers access through proximity to nature from school-age educare sites in the Swedish city of Malmö. Using spatial methodology, proximity to nature was measured at 67 school-aged educare sites. The results provide a complex picture of a range from high to low-quality access to nature for children at the sites. The results help highlight the importance of access via proximity while also opening the door to a mix of other sociocultural/structural/institutional factors to be considered in support of children’s access to nature experience.
... EE is an interdisciplinary process in which people are developing skills and attitudes in order to understand and evaluate the complex and constantly evolving relationship between man, culture, and his ecological and biophysical environment (Giannoulis et al. 2014). EE plays a major role in harmonizing the relationship between people and nature, transmitting knowledge, and creating an experience to change beliefs, attitudes, and most importantly, behavior (Frantz and Mayer 2014). ...
Mankind faces serious environmental problems that, ironically, have been caused or most severely strained by man, the planet’s most intelligent inhabitant. The climate crisis is the main threat to global survival, forcing societies to adapt to new realities. We must update our society’s cultural software and encourage
responsibility, awareness, and active participation in conservation. These goals are exemplified in a model eco-community in the Port of Linaria on the island of Skyros. Since 2015, two Greek universities and the port’s public administration
entity, the Skyros Port Fund, have been hosting students and volunteers from Greece and abroad with the aim of spreading a new, more resilient, and sustainable way of life, known as the “SKYROS Project.” This project has been an environmental education focus for the local community and visitors who adopt
pro-environmental attitudes and act as community stewards who are committed to climate resilience. The SKYROS Project also promoted the creation of an educational kit to raise awareness of the climate crisis and the challenges it poses to the planet. This kit has been evaluated by Greek experts in the field of
environmental education who found this innovative approach promising for application in a port context.
... The need to raise environmental awareness cannot be separated from the environmental crisis due to irresponsible human activities (Sueb & Damayanti, 2021). Education plays a big role in teaching students how to study and investigate their environment and make intelligent as well as informed decisions about how to take care of it (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). ...
This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of an e-module based on Problem-Based Learning combined with Socratic Dialogue on the topic of environmental change in improving school students' critical thinking skills. This research was a quasi-experimental study and used a non-randomised control group, pre-test/post-test design. The sampling technique was cluster random sampling. The sample in this study was two experimental classes (n = 72) and two control classes (n = 72). The data collection instruments included multiple-choice tests and a questionnaire. The test results were analysed using the t-test and the N-gain score test. The results showed significant difference in students' critical thinking skills between the experimental and control classes. Students who used the e-module showed better critical thinking skills. Students who used the e-module showed a greater increase in critical thinking skills after the learning process, compared to students who did not use the e-module. Thus, it can be concluded that the e-module based on PBL combined with Socratic Dialogue effectively improved students' critical thinking skills.
... Sharing environmental experiences with others, even through conversation, may have a synergistic impact on pro-environment behavior. Frantz and Mayer (2014) mentioned that discussing nature with friends and family has been shown to be a reliable indicator of environment-conserving behavior. With connectedness to nature, an individual may become more interested in learning about the natural environment and how to protect it. ...
The relationship between greenwashing and visitors' green behavior remains an under‐researched topic in the tourism and hospitality literature, despite evidence of the harmful effect of greenwashing on the reputation and competitive advantage of organizations. This study extends attribution theory into the green context to develop a research framework for investigating the interrelationship between greenwashing, green trust, and green word‐of‐mouth (WOM), especially the roles of green trust and connectedness to nature. We conducted a survey of 289 visitors staying in four‐ and five‐star hotels in Vietnam. The findings indicated that hotels should avoid greenwashing due to its negative impact on visitors' green trust and green WOM. Moreover, the study found that greenwashing had an indirect and negative influence on green WOM based on visitors' green trust. Importantly, the research revealed the value of connectedness in moderating green attitudes and behaviors among visitors.
... In addition, improving sustainable environmental management among rural residents is a long-term process. It mainly aims to encourage rural residents to establish the value of environmental protection and cognition of environmental protection by disseminating relevant sustainable environmental management knowledge and enhancing environmental perception, so to improve rural residents' WTP and payment level [44]. The implementation of environmental regulations contributes largely to residents' environmental cognition and may indirectly affect their WTP and payment level for sustainable environmental management. ...
Exploring the construction of effective payment mechanisms for rural residents could break the dilemma of the value of a single investment by the government in environmental governance and promote the process of sustainable rural domestic sewage treatment (RDST). The effects of environmental regulations have been roughly approved; however, their influence mechanisms on rural residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) and payment level for sustainable RDST have not been fully revealed. Based on a database of 744 respondents, an integrated model was developed to verify the heterogeneous effects of three environmental regulations on rural residents’ WTP and further explore their interaction effects and impact mechanisms. In addition, there is an urgent necessity to explore the effectiveness of implementing different combinations of environmental regulations. Our results indicated that, firstly, the guiding regulation and incentive regulation promoted rural residents’ WTP and payment level, whereas the binding regulation had a limited impact on individuals. Secondly, rural residents’ cognition mediated the effect of the environmental regulations on their WTP and payment level. Lastly, the guiding and incentive regulations showed a substitution relationship, while both guiding and binding regulations as well as incentive and binding regulations revealed a complementary relationship. The implications of these results indicate the importance of strengthening the public attention on the environmental and health hazards of rural domestic sewage and effectively raising rural residents’ environmental cognition and environmental protection awareness, thereby increasing their WTP and payment level for sustainable RDST. This study provides credible references and recommendations for environmental regulations’ formulation and policy optimization for RDST, as well as for the construction of payment systems for rural residents, and inspiration for rural environment management in other developing countries.
... Moreover, Soga and Gaston (2023) emphasized several pro-biodiversity behavioral changes, such as purchasing ecofriendly products, reducing pesticide use in domestic gardens, and donating to conservation organizations, among other positive effects.Furthermore, the potency of these effects appears to correlate with the biodiversity of the natural environments visited (Wood et al., 2019;Wyles et al., 2019) and is more pronounced when the exposure is deliberate , when attention is focused on the natural context (Pasanen et al., 2018), and when individuals form a meaningful connection with specific natural elements or the environment as a whole (Ives et al., 2017;Martin et al., 2020). Moreover, the benefits of nature exposure may extend to the environment itself, as it fosters pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors (Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Zelenski et al., 2015). This influence is evident in activities such as volunteerism in environmental organizations and the promotion of community environmental awareness, both among children (Wells and Evans, 2003) and adults . ...
Introduction
Engaging with nature has been widely acknowledged for its positive impact on well-being. Traditionally, assessments of nature exposure focus on estimating green space exposure and outdoor time. However, the Nature Exposure Scale (NES) offers a unique approach by evaluating the quality of nature experiences, encompassing both deliberate and spontaneous encounters.
Methods
This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the NES in the context of Portugal. Exploratory Factor Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed to examine the underlying structure of the scale. Additionally, reliability assessments, along with tests of convergent and divergent validity, were conducted. Data were collected from a sample of 558 adults and 241 adolescents between 2016 and 2018.
Results
The findings revealed strong internal consistency of the NES, supported by acceptable correlation values and robust factor loadings within a unidimensional model. The scale effectively predicted variations in nature exposure across diverse professional activities.
Discussion
In summary, the 4-item NES emerged as a reliable tool for assessing nature exposure in various settings, effectively bridging a gap in the Portuguese context. The scale demonstrated potential for cross-cultural research and was particularly adept at predicting nature exposure in different professional contexts. The results suggest that the NES can enhance our understanding of the impact of nature on well-being in diverse cultural settings.
Conclusion
The study underscores the reliability of the NES in assessing nature exposure in Portugal, paving the way for further exploration in Portuguese-speaking regions. The scale holds promise for advancing research on the relationship between nature and well-being, contributing valuable insights across different cultural contexts.
... A strong CTN enhances the influence of environmental knowledge, leading individuals to choose eco-resorts as a conscious and meaningful way to support their values and engage in sustainable travel practices. This also aligns with the NAT framework, which supports that CTN requires a degree of understanding towards environmental systems and relationships (Fryxell and Lo, 2003;Frantz and Mayer, 2014). Without an understanding of the role one plays in nature's systems, one cannot appreciate the consequences of our actions. ...
This research investigates the impact of consumers' environmental knowledge, connectedness to nature and climate change anxiety on their intention to stay in an eco-resort. Data (n = 388) were collected from Australian respondents through a structured online questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS AMOS 28. Drawing propositions from the norm activation theory and integrating positive and negative feelings in a single model, we find that consumers' environmental knowledge positively influences their pro-environmental behavioural intention (β = 0.137, SE = 0.047, p = 0.007). Moreover, this relationship is serially mediated by consumers’ connectedness to nature and climate change anxiety (β = 0.026, SE = 0.008, CI: 0.012, 0.043). Our research expands the conceptual domain of the focal variables from environmental psychology to the area of consumer psychology in sustainable tourism. The implications of our findings are particularly relevant for marketers in the eco-resort industry, as they highlight the significance of leveraging connectedness to nature and climate change anxiety as mediating factors to develop compelling promotional strategies that communicate eco-friendly practices and immersive sustainable experiences, thereby appealing to environmentally conscious consumers and gaining a competitive edge in tourism.
... Nature connection has been defined as "a stable state of consciousness comprising symbiotic cognitive, affective, and experiential dimensions that reflect a realization of the Interrelatedness between one's self and the rest of nature" (Zylstra et al. 2014, p. 126). It is both an important contributor to wellbeing (Zelenski and Nisbet 2014) and has been empirically linked to pro-environmental behaviour (Clayton 2012;Frantz and Mayer 2014;Galway et al. 2021;Hughes, Richardson, and Lumber 2018). ...
... Musicians have come up with songs about nature and environment, which appeal to our emotional well-being (Arbuthnott & Sutter, 2019). In doing so, they increasingly motivate the citizenry to conserve the environment through various innovative and current platforms, including music and performing arts (Frantz & Mayer, 2014;Arendt & Matthes, 2016;Freitas and Fernandes (2018). Interestingly, music provides room for further debate, discussion, and response, with environmentally themed songs being applied to inculcate environmentally sound best practices (Beynon & Lang, 2018;Nisbet et al., 2009;Turner & Freedman, 2004). ...
This paper appraises the role of contemporary Kiswahili music, a form of oral art, in promoting environmental awareness and advocacy. Using case studies from Kenya and Tanzania, we analyse whether East African music infused with suitable environmental practices can help mainstream environmental education, arouse public interest towards nature, advocate for change in mind-sets, and call for proactive action on environmental conservation, while still offering entertainment. Ethnomusicological Kiswahili songs encouraging connection to nature were purposively chosen and acquired from YouTube. The lyrics of these songs were transcribed, translated, and analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis and Conceptual Metaphor Theories. By examining the context and meanings of these songs, we demonstrate that contemporary environmental songs are art forms of expression that advocate for increased environmental management by eliciting discussions and encouraging active societal eco-friendly remedial actions towards ecological resilience and environmental integrity. This article contributes to the emerging discourse on educational and environmental connections through the use of contemporary music, entertainment, and metaphors, with an overarching view to addressing current and emerging environmental concerns. Consequently, we affirm that African music can be used for entertainment, communication of messages and promotion of positive behaviour change.
... In response, researchers have advocated for environmental education that reconnects people to nature (Frantz and Mayer, 2014;Giusti et al., 2018;Ives et al., 2017;Zylstra et al., 2014). Connectedness-to-nature is regarded as a critical lever for transformational, long-term environmental behaviour change in individuals . ...
... The CTW instrument builds on the Connectedness to Nature Instrument, which is based on the validated premise that when individuals feel more connected to nature, they are more inclined to protect it (Frantz & Mayer, 2014). The CTW instrument takes this premise and applies it to water, modifying the statements about connectedness to nature to measure connectedness to water (response range of −2 to 2, with −2 being strongly disagree and 2 being strongly agree). ...
... This is important for both theory and practice and applies to a number of domains. For example, it is particularly relevant for environmental education, which often places promoting nature connectedness as one of its aims [88][89][90], but often fails to deliver that outcome [21]. From the view of nature connectedness as a relationship, the literature would suggest that the activities of environmental education must go beyond objective learning about nature [29]; instead, the learning should involve novel and exciting activities [44,45,61] that promote both a sense of intimacy [45,61,62,64,86] and perceptions of interdependence [57,63,64] with nature. ...
Major environmental institutions around the globe are realising that the failing human–nature relationship is a root cause of environmental issues. Despite this shift in thinking, there is more work to be done to highlight the human–nature relationship as a tangible target for pro-environmental behaviour. This review argues for the importance of targeting human–nature relationships. It emphasises that nature connectedness, with its robust links to pro-environmental behaviour, is a useful operationalisation of such relationships. Following a review of recent references to the human–nature relationship in policy documents, this paper draws on theories of interpersonal relationships to illustrate how they can inform efforts to repair the human–nature relationship. Parallels between nature connectedness research and research on interpersonal relationships are highlighted. The potential for new routes to a closer human–nature relationship—including a more meaningful (e.g., intimate) engagement with nature, a cultural shift in support for human–nature relationships, fostering trust in nature and recognising reciprocity with nature—are noted. This review concludes that the human–nature relationship can be seen as an extension of interpersonal relationships, provides a tangible pathway to a sustainable future, and suggests that such explicit relationship-focused thinking can guide both policy and research.
... Further, environmental education is considered an effort to manage the environment through a formal approach by providing insight knowledge to students (Carleton-hug and Hug, 2010). Also, environmental education is a commitment of the international government and community and implemented through the school curriculum, it attempts to involve learners in imparting knowledge to change beliefs, attitudes and behaviors towards the environment (Frantz and Mayer, 2014). ...
... 16 This report presents the findings of a survey investigating the level of awareness, understanding, and concern about climate change and environmental degradation among the urban population of Andhra Pradesh. 17 This research aims not to explain the environmental and climatic shifts occurring but to gauge how individuals understand and respond to these shifts. ...
Environmental protection in the twenty‐first century is more important than ever. Despite this, urbanization has led to an increase in the worldwide push for environmental sustainability and reducing pollution from human activities in the air, water, soil, etc. Pursuing a better quality of life has led humanity to use more of the planet's finite resources. This analysis focused on demographics such as age, gender, occupation, degree of education, and socio‐economic status. This study focuses on the people of Andhra Pradesh, India, to gauge their familiarity with and outlook on climate change and other worldwide environmental concerns. People's judgments of the efficacy of individual action in coping with the adverse effects of environmental and climatic changes and the most visible changes in these areas are assessed. The results of this research will be used to shape future communication and public awareness campaigns, whether they are aimed at spreading specific ideas or policies. Thus, it is seen as more vital to examine the possibility of strengthening communication capabilities and public outreach than to determine whether or not common knowledge is accurate.
... This positive relationship between people's connectedness to nature, their wellbeing, and their tendency for exhibiting pro-conservation behaviours remains consistent across various socio-demographic variables that influence factors like contact with the nature (through greenspace visits) and general health [10]. Therefore, it is well evidenced that a feeling of nature connectedness is a prerequisite to motivating engagement in sustainable behaviours directed at nature conservation and restoration [9,11,20]. Therefore, In this paper we take the approach that enhancing nature connectedness by improving engagement with nature in urban greenspaces is critical to fostering environmental stewardship in communities [9,11,21] and, in turn, can help address some of the challenges around greenspace governance in cities. ...
Green infrastructure, particularly public greenspaces such as urban parks, plays an important role in urban environments, and improving public participation in greenspace practices and encouraging environmental stewardship can help to address some of the challenges of greenspace governance. We identify a gap in the research as to whether participation in citizen science projects can enhance connections between people and place and encourage better community participation in the stewardship of parks and urban greenspaces. The research adopts a Living Lab approach to utilise the inherent knowledge of the local community in developing digital experiments in the pilot site using a Nature Data Probe toolkit and seeks to explore its potential for enhancing nature connectedness by revealing hidden nature. We describe an action research method working with participants from a secondary school located close to a large urban park in Plymouth, UK. The results found that participants were more observant of hidden nature following the workshop and that an increase in the number of participants, and in the specific and descriptive responses identifying nature, was observed. These findings indicate that a deeper awareness of the natural environment was created and, in summary, we discuss the implications of this as a pathway to increased participation in greenspace governance.
There is a growing realization that the harm caused to Earth’s ecosystems from anthropogenic climate change and loss of species in part stems from humanity’s relationship with wider nature. This relationship is one that (perceptually) removes humans from the ecosystems within which they exist wherein nature becomes a resource to be controlled or exploited for humanity’s gain. There is a need to transcend this exploitative relationship to one that respects the intrinsic value and appreciates the strengths of the natural world irrespective of its perceived usefulness to humanity, so that humanity can coexist peacefully within a wider community of nature. This chapter explores the role of Ecological Peace, where our intentions, attitudes, and actions are refocused to move away from control or exploitation of nature to one based on interdependence with the wider natural world to which we belong. Character strengths are key to this and will be discussed in relation to the psychological construct of Nature Connectedness as a facilitator of Ecological Peace in reconnecting people with the more-than-human world to which they belong.
This study contributes to the debate about effective regulatory strategies for environmental regulation in achieving sustainable agriculture, particularly in understudied emerging economies. We leverage the case of swine manure recovery in China to illuminate this crucial but under‐researched context. Building on the theory of planned behavior, which posits a gap between intention and behavior, we investigate how these regulations and their combinations influence swine farmers' intentions and behaviors toward resource recovery. Findings reveal command‐and‐control regulations most effectively stimulate initial intentions, while incentive‐based regulations work best in bridging the gap between intention and action. Information‐based approaches further strengthen this conversion, particularly when combined with incentives. Bridging the disciplines of regulation and behavioral science, this study advances theoretical understanding of the intention‐behavior gap in environmental policy. It informs effective regulation design that promote sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries, ultimately contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The significance of naturalist environmental education (NEE) which primarily focuses on human-nature relationships lies in its ability to mitigate detrimental influences on environmental quality and foster environmental awareness, thereby averting adverse ecological consequences. Through a bibliometric examination of the literature using Scopus, this research attempted to chart and evaluate the intellectual production associated with NEE. The findings are based on a statistical analysis of 1553 documents using the VOSviewer software. Results indicate there has been a significant increase in global scholarly focus on NEE and the pattern of publications trend follows a four-stage progression. "Social Sciences" has the greatest number of relevant articles. Keywords including education literacy and sustainable development are of utmost importance. There is clear evidence of global scientific collaboration among developed countries. It's crucial for scholars to prioritize interdisciplinary collaboration within NEE, and enhance adult environmental literacy on developing countries.
Citation: Lahoti, S.A.; Dhyani, S.; Sahle, M.; Kumar, P.; Saito, O. Exploring the Nexus between Green Space Availability, Connection with Nature, and Pro-Environmental Behavior in the Urban Landscape. Sustainability 2024, 16, 5435. Abstract: The correlation between connecting with nature and fostering pro-environmental behavior is essential to attaining sustainability targets. However, understanding how this connection is cultivated, particularly in the urban settings of the Global South, remains limited. This study delves into the impact of urban green space (UGS) availability on perceived connection with nature (CN) and its subsequent influence on pro-environmental behavior (PEB) among urban residents, focusing on Nagpur city. Employing a digital survey tool, data were collected from 2414 participants across ten administrative zones. Descriptive and exploratory analyses alongside multinomial logistic regression were conducted to assess variable associations using R programming. The results revealed that 91% of respondents frequented UGSs, while a smaller fraction cited time constraints for not visiting. Notably, respondents' perceived CN demonstrated significant associations with both UGS availability and PEB. A regression analysis underscored stronger PEB among those reporting a deeper connection with nature. Furthermore, demographic factors such as gender, age, and education were linked to variations in PEB. This study advocates for leveraging UGSs to bolster CN and PEB among urban populations, emphasizing the pivotal role of urban planning in nurturing human-nature connections. Future research should explore specific nature contact modalities conducive to fostering connectedness, especially in rapidly urbanizing locales.
Experimental catchments are fundamental elements in hydrological sciences as they provide key data for putting forward and testing hypotheses, developing theories, constraining models, and making predictions. Significant progress in catchment hydrology stemmed from field measurements but increasing costs and risks associated with field work and the availability of big data based on remote sensing, machine learning, and a plethora of models, as well as observations deriving from previous and current sites, raises questions on whether running an experimental catchment still provides individual and community benefits as in the past. In this commentary, I highlight the advantages of keeping experimental catchments alive and propose a personal 10‐step “recipe” to set up a new experimental catchment and manage and sustain it in the long term. These suggestions can be useful both to young and less young researchers who are open to facing the challenge of measuring processes in the field and are willing to offer the scientific community new experimental evidence for advancing our current knowledge in catchment hydrology.
Η παρούσα έρευνα είχε σκοπό τη διερεύνηση των γνώσεων και απόψεων των εκπαιδευτικών της Περιφερειακής Ενότητας Δράμας σχετικά με τις Προστατευόμενες Περιοχές της υπόψη Περιφερειακής Ενότητας και την εκπαιδευτική αξιοποίησή τους. Για τις ανάγκες της έρευνας κατασκευάστηκε ερωτηματολόγιο κλειστού τύπου το οποίο συμπληρώθηκε από 70 εκπαιδευτικούς. Από τη στατιστική επεξεργασία των απαντήσεων φάνηκε ότι όλοι οι ερωτηθέντες εκπαιδευτικοί γνώριζαν και είχαν επιστεφτεί κάποια από τις Προστατευόμενες Περιοχές της περιοχής έρευνας. Οι περιβαλλοντικές γνώσεις και οι πεποιθήσεις τους σχετικά με τις περιοχές αυτές προέκυψαν κυρίως από την εμπειρία τους καθώς λίγοι από τους ερωτηθέντες είχαν επιμορφωθεί και/ή συμμετάσχει σε θέματα Περιβαλλοντικής Εκπαίδευσης. Λίγοι ήταν επίσης όσοι είχαν αξιοποιήσει τις συγκεκριμένες Προστατευόμενες Περιοχές στην διδασκαλία δηλώνοντας σε μεγάλο ποσοστό ότι αντιμετώπισαν εμπόδια στην προσπάθεια αυτή.
Diante das diferentes perspectivas sobre a Educação Ambiental (EA) que emergiram ao longo dos anos, é importante que haja a compreensão do conceito, das lacunas e abordagens sobre o tema. Portanto, buscamos avaliar como a EA foi abordada pela comunidade científica e quais os efeitos dessas abordagens sobre a sua aplicação no contexto educacional. Para isso, buscamos responder às seguintes questões: (i) Os estudos direcionados à EA têm recebido atenção da comunidade científica? (ii) quais são as tendências nas publicações de EA? (iii) Nos últimos anos, tem havido um aumento no número de publicações sobre EA? Para obtenção de um resultado global sobre a EA, realizamos uma busca cienciométrica na base de dados do Web of Science por meio de uma busca avançada compreendendo títulos e palavras-chave com a seguinte expressão: ("environment* educ*"). Restringimos os anos de busca de 1991 (quando os resumos das publicações começaram a ser indexados na plataforma) a 2019. Observamos que o Brasil se destacou no número de publicações, refletindo a preocupação dos pesquisadores brasileiros em promover a sustentabilidade e a manutenção da biodiversidade. Quanto às abordagens, os estudos são amplos, indo desde a inf luência das políticas de proteção ambiental até a importância da reflexão em nível global, propondo acordos internacionais. No que se refere à aplicação da EA, dadas as múltiplas correntes existentes, cabe ressaltar a importância de que o processo de ensino-aprendizagem ocorra de forma crítica para que não haja favorecimento dos conteúdos promovidos e apoiados por uma classe hegemônica.
A presente pesquisa analisa a compreensão dos estudantes sobre a Floresta Nacional Palmares, Altos - PI, destacando a importância de entender a interação ser humano-natureza e fatores que condicionam sua aproximação e/ou distanciamento. Apresenta um caráter descritivo, com abordagem quanti-qualitativa. A coleta de dados em campo foi por meio de entrevistas com 66 estudantes de ensino fundamental, médio e superior de instituições de ensino localizadas em áreas urbana e rural do estado do Piauí. Constatou-se que estudantes urbanos compreendem meio ambiente de forma naturalista, ao passo que os da área rural de modo antropocêntrico. Considerou-se que o contato direto com o meio natural é fator essencial à criação de sentidos, criando laços de afetividade.
The general objective of this grounded theory multiple-case study was to further apprehend how independent K-12 schools within America foster a connection between children and adolescent students and the natural world through examining the relationship between this connection and (a) the school community (“community connectedness”) and (b) personal sense/belief about spirituality. This study utilized a grounded theory multiple-case study approach to perform secondary data analysis on pre-existing data collected during the original parent study. From this parent study, two schools from the initial cohort of 20 were selected and their data were examined for this grounded theory multiple-case study. Data were primarily collected through school site visits that were one to two days in duration.
RESUMO O presente relato busca compartilha a experiência vivenciada durante cerca de 6 anos como guia de uma trilha guiada em uma área em recuperação de uma antiga pedreira no bioma pampa. A trilha guiada inclui um conjunto de abordagens diferentes que são combinadas para contar uma história e transmitir conceitos e noções sobre processos importantes para entender o contexto ambiental atual. Alguns conceitos e processos são complexos, sendo sua compreensão facilitada pelas múltiplas abordagens adotadas que se complementam. A aplicação dessa "abordagem múltipla" com públicos de diferentes perfis etários, grau de formação escolar/acadêmica e condição socioeconômica conduz em geral à percepção de um impacto positivo nos participantes ao final do encontro. No entanto, a adoção da metodologia pelo relatante, apesar da vantagem da versatilidade e adaptabilidade a públicos diferentes, demanda alguns desafios importantes. A curva de aprendizagem precisa ser considerada, pois cada abordagem individual precisou ser testada ao longo dos primeiros anos de atuação. Considerando que as atividades relatadas foram desenvolvidas em local privilegiado para a educação ambiental, não é possível afirmar que se trata de uma abordagem metodológica a ser aplicada em qualquer situação. É recomendável que a abordagem relatada aqui, seja testada em outros contextos e submetida a validação.
Fraternity pledges swallowing goldfish. Strangers donating kidneys. Suicide bombers. Individuals will do inconvenient, painful, and even deadly things that are not in their economic or biological best interest for people, groups and causes they care about. How can these powerful motivations be harnessed to promote sustainability? This talk will introduce the Core Social Motives, and present four key lessons the core social motives teach us about working with humans.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: ( 1 ) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, ( 2 ) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and ( 3 ) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated rating scale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
A connection to nature index was developed and tested to measure children’s affective attitude toward the natural environment. The index was employed through a survey that investigates students’ attitude toward Lagoon Quest, a mandatory environmental education program for all fourth-grade, public school students in Brevard County, Florida. Factor analyses were conducted to explore and confirm different factors in the connection to nature index. A path analysis was conducted to examine the association among variables. The results suggest four dimensions in the children’s connection to nature index: (a) enjoyment of nature, (b) empathy for creatures, (c) sense of oneness, and (d) sense of responsibility. Children’s connection to nature influences their intention to participate in nature-based activities in the future. Children’s connection to nature, their previous experience in nature, their perceived family value toward nature, and their perceived control positively influenced their interest in performing environmentally friendly behaviors.
The authors hypothesize that environmental values derive from a sense of connectivity with nature. Connectivity describes a perception of sameness between the self, others, and the natural world. The experience of connectivity involves dissolution of boundaries and a sense of a shared or common essence between the self, nature, and others. Connectivity with nature differs theoretically and operationally from other explanations of environmental values, including cultural bias, postmaterialism, and social altruism. The authors describe their development of a sociometric scale to operationalize connectivity with nature. Based on data from a mail survey of Pennsylvania landowners, the authors use multiple regression analyses to determine the extent to which connectivity with nature predicts and explains environmental concern and behavior in the presence of standard sociodemographic variables. Survey respondents reported a high level of connectivity with nature, and connectivity retained a significant and positive relationship to environmental concern and environmental behavior in multiple regression models. Implications of these findings are advanced.
Data from a survey questionnaire and from water utility billing records are used to compare self-reported and actual water savings for 471 households during a conservation campaign. Self-reports are only weakly related to actual changes in water consumption. Errors are widespread, and not wholly random: The accuracy of self-reports increases with household socioeconomic status and with the extent of conservation behavior. The large and nonrandom error component makes self-reports questionable as a proxy for objective measures of overall water savings in conservation research. Because knowledge about water use is both generally low and related to conservation behavior, informational feedback may be a particularly effective strategy for increasing conservation. The effectiveness of this feedback may increase with social class, however.
Latane and Darley developed a five-stage model to understand why people do and do not help other people in emergency situations. We extend their five-stage model to explore why people do and do not take action against climate change. We identify the factors that make climate change difficult to notice and ambiguous as an emergency; we explore barriers to taking responsibility for action; and we discuss the issues of efficacy and costs versus benefits that make action unlikely. The resulting analysis is useful on two levels. For educators and policy makers, the model suggests the most efficacious approaches to galvanizing action among U.S. citizens. For social scientists, the model provides a valuable framework for integrating research from diverse areas of psychology and suggests fruitful avenues for future empirical research.
Important features of the self-concept can be located outside of the individual and inside close or related others. The authors use this insight to reinterpret data previously said to support the empathy–altruism model of helping, which asserts that empathic concern for another results in selflessness and true altruism. That is, they argue that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self–other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under these conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self. In 3 studies, the impact of empathic concern on willingness to help was eliminated when oneness —a measure of perceived self–other overlap—was considered. Path analyses revealed further that empathic concern increased helping only through its relation to perceived oneness, thereby throwing the empathy–altruism model into question. The authors suggest that empathic concern affects helping primarily as an emotional signal of oneness.
It has been suggested that a positive human–nature relationship is essential for countering today’s environmental problems. Prior environmental education research has focused largely on knowledge or attitudinal outcomes, and few studies have examined the ability of environmental education programmes to promote connectedness with nature. Therefore, our goal was to (1) examine differences in connectedness with nature among a sample of children with differing ages and academic tracks, and (2) investigate whether environmental education can help promote and sustain connectedness with nature. With a pre-, post- and retention test design, we assessed a comprehensive four-day environmental education programme on water at a school field centre, using the inclusion of nature in self (INS) scale to identify the change in connectedness of 9–10-year-old pupils and 11–13-year-old pupils. We found that younger children and university-track pupils had higher INS scores than older children and general-education-track pupils, respectively. Participating in environmental education resulted in a robust short-term increase in connectedness with nature in both age groups. However, only the younger pupils’ connectedness remained sustained four weeks following the treatment. Environmental educators should keep in mind that strengthening connectedness to nature is more sustainable before the age of 11.
Three studies examine the effects of exposure to nature on positive affect and ability to reflect on a life problem. Participants spent 15 min walking in a natural setting (Studies 1, 2, & 3), an urban setting (Study 1), or watching videos of natural and urban settings (Studies 2 & 3). In all three studies, exposure to nature increased connectedness to nature, attentional capacity, positive emotions, and ability to reflect on a life problem; these effects are more dramatic for actual nature than for virtual nature. Mediational analyses indicate that the positive effects of exposure to nature are partially mediated by increases in connectedness to nature and are not mediated by increases in attentional capacity. The discussion focuses on the mechanisms that underlie the exposure to nature/well-being effects.
The cognitive significance of being in a close relationship is described in terms of including other in the self (in K. Lewin's [1948] sense of overlapping regions of the life space and in W. James [1890/1948] sense of the self as resources, perspectives, and characteristics). Exp 1 (with 24 college students), adapting W. B. Liebrand's (see record
1985-20117-001) decomposed-game procedures, found less self/other difference in allocations of money to a friend than to a stranger, regardless of whether Ss expected other to know their allocations. Exp 2 (with 20 female undergraduates), adapting C. G. Lord's (see record
1988-00331-001) procedures, found that Ss recalled fewer nouns previously imaged with self or mother than nouns imaged with a nonclose other, suggesting that mother was processed more like self than a stranger. Exp 3 (with 17 married graduate students), adapting self-schema, reaction-time (RT) procedures (e.g., H. Markus; see record
1977-27587-001) found longer latencies when making "me/not me" decisions for traits that were different between self and spouse versus traits that were similar for both, suggesting a self/other confusion with spouse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In 2 studies, the Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) Scale, a single-item, pictorial measure of closeness, demonstrated alternate-form and test–retest reliability; convergent validity with the Relationship Closeness Inventory (E. Berscheid et al, 1989), the R. J. Sternberg (1988) Intimacy Scale, and other measures; discriminant validity; minimal social desirability correlations; and predictive validity for whether romantic relationships were intact 3 mo later. Also identified and cross-validated were (1) a 2-factor closeness model (Feeling Close and Behaving Close) and (2) longevity–closeness correlations that were small for women vs moderately positive for men. Five supplementary studies showed convergent and construct validity with marital satisfaction and commitment and with a reaction-time (RT)-based cognitive measure of closeness in married couples; and with intimacy and attraction measures in stranger dyads following laboratory closeness-generating tasks. In 3 final studies most Ss interpreted IOS Scale diagrams as depicting interconnectedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes a 2-stage model of empathic mediation of helping behavior, which holds that taking the perspective of a person in need increases empathic emotion; this in turn increases helping. Ss in 2 experiments learned of another person's need from taped radio broadcasts and were subsequently given an opportunity to offer help to that person. The experiments used different strategies for manipulating empathic emotional response to the other's plight. In Exp I, using 44 male and female undergraduates, the empathic emotion of some Ss was experimentally reduced by a misattribution of arousal technique; in Exp II, using 33 female undergraduates, the empathic emotion of some Ss was experimentally increased by a false feedback of arousal technique. Results of each experiment support the proposed model. Ss who experienced the most empathic emotion also offered the most help. Results of Exp I indicate that perspective taking did not directly affect helping; it affected helping only through its effect on empathic emotion. Motivational implications are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Argues that one solution to the problem of establishing replicable generalizations in psychological research lies in aggregating behavior over situations and/or occasions, thereby canceling out incidental, uncontrollable factors relative to experimental factors. Such a procedure increases reliability without introducing excessive constraints into the experimental situation. The value of such aggregation was demonstrated in 4 studies in Part I of this paper (Epstein, 1979) that examined a variety of data, including the subjective and objective measurement of behavior in the field and in the laboratory. Four kinds of aggregation are discussed, each of which reduces a specific source of error. The degree of aggregation that is required varies inversely with the degree to which the events studied are ego-involving, implicitly or explicitly include an adequate sample of behavioral observation, or have been demonstrated to be robust over incidental sources of variation. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Four studies with 131 college students demonstrated that (a) when measures of behavior were averaged over an increasing number of events stability coefficients increased to high levels for all kinds of data, including objective behavior, self-ratings, and ratings by others, and (b) objective behavior was then reliably related to self-report measures, including standard personality inventories (e.g., Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Epstein-Fenz Manifest Anxiety scales, Epstein Hostility scales, and Epstein-O'Brien Self-Esteem scale). It is concluded that the observation that it is possible to predict behavior averaged over a sample of situations and/or occasions, rather than from single instances, has important implications not only for the study of personality but for psychological research in general. (92 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Pleasurable experiences in nature are suspected to promote a personal connection with nature, and subsequently, nature conservation in individuals. Using an Internet-based survey employing a convenience sample of the general population (N = 1,309), we developed a connection-with-nature instrument that relies on only simple self-reflection. That is, connection with nature is indirectly derived from inspecting reports of past bonding activities and responses to evaluative statements reflecting an appreciation of nature. As such, our instrument is intellectually easy and not particularly taxing to respond to. Although conceptualized as an attitude, our new Disposition to Connect with Nature scale converged with other connection-with-nature measures—with only one exception—and, simultaneously, turned out to be technically superior with regard to accuracy and validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose – In residential buildings, personal choices influence electricity and water consumption. Prior studies indicate that information feedback can stimulate resource conservation. College dormitories provide an excellent venue for controlled study of the effects of feedback. The goal of this study is to assess how different resolutions of socio-technical feedback, combined with incentives, encourage students to conserve resources. Design/methodology/approach – An automated data monitoring system was developed that provided dormitory residents with real-time web-based feedback on energy and water use in two "high resolution" dormitories. In contrast, utility meters were manually read for 20 "low-resolution" dormitories, and data were provided to residents once per week. For both groups, resource use was monitored during a baseline period and during a two week "dorm energy competition" during which feedback, education and conservation incentives were provided. Findings – Overall, the introduction of feedback, education and incentives resulted in a 32 percent reduction in electricity use (amounting to savings of 68,300 kWh, $5,107 and 148,000 lbs of CO 2 2) but only a 3 percent reduction in water use. Dormitories that received high resolution feedback were more effective at conservation, reducing their electricity consumption by 55 percent compared to 31 percent for low resolution dormitories. In a post-competition survey, students reported that they would continue conservation practices developed during the competition and that they would view web-based real-time data even in the absence of competition. Practical implications – The results of this research provide evidence that real-time resource feedback systems, when combined with education and an incentive, interest, motivate and empower college students to reduce resource use in dormitories.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: (1) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, (2) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and (3) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated ratingscale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
In this paper we assess overall accuracy in survey self-reports on giving to charitable organizations, direction of bias in
self-reports, and the influence of this bias on relationships. We compare donations to one specific health charity reported
in the Giving in the Netherlands Panel Study 2003 with donations recorded in the database (n=191). We find that (a) reported donations are significantly higher than recorded donations; (b) reported amounts contributed
are correlated very strongly with recorded contributions; (c) differences between amounts reported and amounts recorded are
positively related to education, religious affiliation, and the tendency to social desirability, and negatively to household
income. This suggests that effects of education are overestimated and effects of income and religious affiliation are underestimated
using self-reports on donations rather than archival records.
KeywordsAccuracy–Self-reports–Survey research–Philanthropy–Donations
Five studies assessed the validity and reliability of the connectedness to nature scale (CNS), a new measure of individuals’ trait levels of feeling emotionally connected to the natural world. Data from two community and three college samples demonstrated that the CNS has good psychometric properties, correlates with related variables (the new environmental paradigm scale, identity as an environmentalist), and is uncorrelated with potential confounds (verbal ability, social desirability). This paper supports ecopsychologists’ contention that connection to nature is an important predictor of ecological behavior and subjective well-being. It also extends social psychological research on self–other overlap, perspective taking, and altruistic behavior to the overlap between self and nature. The CNS promises to be a useful empirical tool for research on the relationship between humans and the natural world.
To examine whether agreement between self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity varies by BMI category in a low-income black sample.
Participants completed a questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for 4-6 days. Using one- and 10-minute bouts, accelerometers measured light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity time.
Correlations varied by obesity (nonobese: one-minute r=0.41; 10-minute r=0.47; obese: one-minute r=0.21; 10-minute r=0 .14). Agreement was highest among nonobese persons (one-minute kappa = 0.48, 10-minute kappa = 0.023; obese: one-minute kappa = -0.024, 10- minute kappa = -0.020).
We found compromised questionnaire performance among obese participants.
Using 3 experiments, the authors explored the role of perspective-taking in debiasing social thought. In the 1st 2 experiments, perspective-taking was contrasted with stereotype suppression as a possible strategy for achieving stereotype control. In Experiment 1, perspective-taking decreased stereotypic biases on both a conscious and a nonconscious task. In Experiment 2, perspective-taking led to both decreased stereotyping and increased overlap between representations of the self and representations of the elderly, suggesting activation and application of the self-concept in judgments of the elderly. In Experiment 3, perspective-taking reduced evidence of in-group bias in the minimal group paradigm by increasing evaluations of the out-group. The role of self-other overlap in producing prosocial outcomes and the separation of the conscious, explicit effects from the nonconscious, implicit effects of perspective-taking are discussed.
Much research has been done surrounding conservation behaviors in the household and electricity consumption. Most research has tended to focus on attitudes about the environment and how those attitudes influence pro-environmental behavior, but the research has not usually found a strong link between the two. The Connectedness to Nature Scale was used in this study to measure emotional responses to nature, and to determine whether people who felt more connected to nature used less electricity in the household. The residents of the Union Street Housing complex at Oberlin College were chosen as the group monitored for this project, as the houses had the same baseline consumption data and the residents had no fiscal incentives to conserve electricity. I compared the emotional response to nature with attitudes about the environment and electricity consumption per house. I concluded that emotional response to nature had a correlational relationship with electricity consumption, and that attitudes about electricity consumption were very predictive of behavior, probably because the data measured attitudes about very specific behaviors. This was the first time the CNS was correlated with actual behavior. Recommendations were made for further studies that might establish a causal link between connectedness to nature and electricity consumption.
In the domain of personality psychology, the trait concept has carried the burden of dispositional explanation. A multitude of personality traits has been identified and new trait dimensions continue to join the growing list. In a similar fashion, the concept of attitude has been the focus of attention in the explanations of human behavior offered by social psychologists. Numerous attitudes have been assessed over the years and, as new social issues emerge, additional attitudinal domains are explored. The chapter provides little evidence to support the postulated existence of stable, underlying attitudes within the individual, which influence both verbal expressions and actions. It examines the relation between two or more actions that were assumed to reflect the same underlying disposition. The aggregation of responses across time, contexts, targets, or actions or across a combination of these elements permits the inferences of dispositions at varying levels of generality.
Nature is often anthropomorphized in the environmental discourse. However, whether anthropomorphism of nature has any impact on the way people relate to and behave toward nature has rarely been examined. With three experiments, the present research addresses this issue. It shows that in general anthropomorphism of nature fosters conservation behavior. Moreover, when nature is anthropomorphized, people feel more connected to it; this sense of connectedness mediates the association between anthropomorphism of nature and conservation behavior. These findings contribute to the understanding of anthropomorphism and that of human–nature relationship. They also bear practical implications for environmental promotion. Future research directions are identified.
The author measured endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) in college students following their involvement in a 2- to 3-week environmental problem module focused on global environmental problems and energy issues. The module included readings, discussion, and a writing exercise, and was presented during 3 sequential semesters within a course on research design. Students from the 3 groups were all tested subsequently in spring 2001. When compared with control data, data from students receiving the educational module showed significant increases in NEP endorsement that declined somewhat with time but remained significantly greater after 3 semesters. In contrast, retention of knowledge from the module showed a predictable decrease over time.
First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "a trenchant book, full of vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written with an unparalleled understanding of the ways of nature, the book includes a section on the monthly changes of the Wisconsin countryside; another part that gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; and a final section in which Leopold addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. As the forerunner of such important books as Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek , Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire , and Robert Finch's The Primal Place , this classic work remains as relevant today as it was forty years ago.
Two hundred students and their spouses participated in a survey. Accuracy of the spouses’self-reports of environmental behavior was examined by comparing them with the students’ reports of the spouses’ behavior. These two sources of report were moderately correlated (rs = .44 to .45). Moreover, self-reports could be higher or lower than other-reports, depending on the type of environmental behavior measured. Half of all participants were also cross-questioned about the details of their self-reports. Compared with those who were not cross-questioned, the former gave lower (less socially desirable) ratings for their own behavior. Put together, the present study found no strong evidence of accuracy or inaccuracy of self-reports but suggests that cross-questioning can make people more cautious in their answers. Gender differences in environmental behavior were also found and discussed.
Nature-protective behavior cannot be sufficiently explained using a pure rational/cognitive approach. Therefore, in a questionnaire study (N = 281), the focus was on emotional motivations of this behavior, especially on a newly conceptualized construct: emotional affinity toward nature. All constructs were measured by reliable and valid scales. Multiple regression analyses reveal that (a) emotional affinity is as powerful to predict nature-protective behavior as indignation and interest in nature and together these three predictors explain up to 47% of variance of the criterion variables, and (b) 39% of emotional affinity toward nature traces back to present and past experiences in natural environments. The resulting integrative path model is discussed. Theoretical conclusions are drawn, and options for practical intervention are derived.
Accuracies of self-reports of household energy consumption were examined among a sample of 2090 electricity and 1699 fuel oil and natural gas consumers. Information obtained from self-reports allowed an increase in response of 37% over what could be obtained from utility company files. Errors in measures as a result of self-reporting occurred, ranging between 10.5% and 12.6% and 24.6% and 29.3%, depending upon fuel type and respondents' use of household receipts. There was no apparent tendency toward systematic over-or underreporting, with the exception of underreporting among larger users. Selfreports correlated more highly with actual consumption than did scores computed to replace missing data. Relationships among variables did not vary significantly between subgroups of respondents for which utility records were and were not obtained. It is concluded that no great error is introduced into findings by researchers' use of self-reports of household energy consumption, either in terms of parameter estimation or in the calculation of relationships among variables. At the sametime, use of self-reports allows the number of missing observations to be reduced.
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between pro-environmental behaviour and two forms of emotional association: attachment to place and connectedness to nature. This relationship is explored in the context of farmers' management of native vegetation on their properties. A postal survey was conducted to measure the extent to which farmers felt connected to nature and to their property. The survey also measured vegetation management behaviours and associated valued outcomes. A total of 141 farmers in northwest Victoria, Australia, completed the survey. Results showed that vegetation protection behaviours increased with connectedness to nature (CNS), although CNS accounted for only a modest amount of the variation in behaviour. Place attachment was not related to management behaviours. Further analysis suggested that the relationship between CNS and management behaviour was mediated by importance given to environmental benefits of vegetation management. The findings lend weight to studies showing a relationship between CNS and more simple conservation behaviours (e.g. recycling). The findings are also consistent with frameworks suggesting that emotional association with nature leads to an expanded sense of self and greater valuing of non-human species, and so to pro-environment behaviour. This demonstrates the importance of using a range of instrumental and more affective strategies to promote conservation behaviours.
As the initial phase of a longitudinal study of environmental perspective in college students, resident student opinion was sampled using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale administered through systematic alphabetical sampling. Sampling was also carried out by a blanket e-mail distribution of surveys for voluntary response. Results showed positive but weak endorsement of the NEP worldview. Reliably greater endorsement was shown in e-mail than in systematic samples, and by women.
This study investigated the relationships between academic major, environmental concern, and the presence of a campus arboretum. Twenty-seven men and 43 women from a small liberal arts college, ages 18-36, completed a series of surveys including the Environmental Preference Questionnaire (EPQ), the Environmental Concern Scale (EC), and the New Ecological Paradigm scale (NEP). As hypothesized, environmental studies majors scored significantly higher on all measures of proenvironmental concern and preferences than did economics majors or students of other academic disciplines. Environmental studies majors were significantly more likely to value and to use the arboretum than were the other groups. Results are discussed in terms of the relationships between education, environmental concern, and behavior.
The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is the most frequently used measure of environmental concern, but it has not been placed in the context of a social-psychological theory of attitude formation or attitude-behavior relationships. Using data from a northern Virginia sample, this study examines NEP in relation to the variables in a theoretical model of environmental concern. We found that the NEP is indistinguishable from a scale of awareness of consequences (AC) of general environmental conditions, both psychometrically and in terms of its relations to behavioral intentions, but somewhat different in its relations to basic value orientations and sociodemographic variables. We conclude that both NEP and AC measure generalized beliefs about the nature of human-environment interactions-or "folk ecology"—a set of beliefs that may be influenced by social structure and values and that influence attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions regarding specific environmental conditions.
Disconnection from the natural world may be contributing to our planet's destruction. The authors propose a new construct, Nature Relatedness (NR), and a scale that assesses the affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects of individuals' connection to nature. In Study 1, the authors explored the internal structure of the NR item responses in a sample of 831 participants using factor analysis. They tested the construct validity of NR with respect to an assortment of environmental and personality measures. In Study 2, they employed experience sampling methodology examining if NR people spend more time outdoors, in nature. Across studies, NR correlated with environmental scales, behavior, and frequency of time in nature, supporting the reliability and validity of NR, as well as the contribution of NR (over and above other measures) to environmental concern and behavior. The potential of NR as a useful method for investigating human-nature relationships and the processes underlying environmental concern and behaviors are discussed.
Four studies are reported on the structure of environmental attitudes. Based on Stern & Dietz' (1994) value-basis theory for environmental attitudes, we predicted that concerns for environmental issues would form three correlated factors. The first study presents the results from a confirmatory factor analysis of the proposed three-factor model among a sample of 1010 U.S. college students. The second study presents the results from a telephone survey of 1005 U.S. respondents. The third study examines the relationship between the three identified types of environmental concerns, existing measures of environmental attitudes, empathy, and social-value orientation. The final study presents the results from a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis examining the factor structure of environmental concerns among college students in ten countries. Additional analyses are provided on the relationship between values and environmental concerns. Taken together, the results provide strong evidence for the distinction between egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns.
There is considerable scientific interest in the psychological correlates of pro-environmental behaviors. Much research has focused on demographic and social-psychological characteristics of individuals who consistently perform such actions. Here, we report the results of 2 studies in which we explored relations between broad personality traits and pro-environmental actions. Using a wide variety of behavior and personality measures, we consistently found moderate positive relations between Openness to Experience and pro-environmental activities in both a community sample (Study 1: N = 778) and an undergraduate student sample (Study 2: N = 115). In Study 2, we showed that the effect of Openness on pro-environmental behaviors was fully mediated by individuals' environmental attitudes and connection to nature. Our findings suggest that high levels of aesthetic appreciation, creativity, and inquisitiveness, but not personality traits associated with altruism, may have motivated the performance of pro-environmental actions among our respondents. Implications for intervention development are discussed.