>> Why are some people
more concerned
about the natural
environment than others?
Does a simulated view of nature
have the same restorative
benefits as a real view?
Do natural disasters like storms
and droughts affect mental
health and well-being?
These are all questions
about psychology and nature,
and all are studied
by psychologists.
Now, when I say "nature," I
mean nature as the outdoors,
as natural processes from your
backyard to the biosphere.
I also mean a spectrum from
domestic nature, such as plants
in your home, to nearby nature,
such as parks and gardens,
to managed nature, such as tree
farms and agricultural areas,
to wild nature, native plants
and animals, wilderness areas
that are remote, challenging,
or purposely left undeveloped,
and even wild processes
in your own body.
And I also mean nature in the
natural world as concepts,
as social or cultural
constructions
that often mean different
things to different people.
When I say "psychology," I mean
the study of mind, emotions,
and behavior, the
science of mental life,
and in a deeper sense,
psyche-logos,
the language of the psyche.
Questions about psychology and
nature, like the ones I posed,
can be approached
from various areas
of psychology you
may be familiar with.
For example, we can
use social psychology
to help determine why some
people are more concerned
about the natural
environment than others.
An obligation to
care about nature
or to take pro-environmental
actions stems
from an interaction of someone's
basic values, their experiences,
their beliefs about the world,
and their sense of empowerment.
We can use neuropsychology
to track the influence
of green spaces on the human
brain and nervous system.
Simulated views of nature
do have psychological
and physiological benefits,
but not as much as real views.
Again and again research
shows that contact
with real nature is more
stress-reducing and better
at sharpening our attention.
Natural disasters won't just
affect physical property.
Clinical psychology reveals
that these events have
strong negative impacts
on the mental health and
well-being of people, families,
and communities,
including increased rates
of anxiety and suicide.
Some psychologists specialize
in these psychology
and nature questions.
For 50 years, researchers
in the field
of environmental psychology have
studied people's relationship
with built environments, such
as buildings and neighborhoods,
and natural environments,
including parks and
wilderness areas.
They have determined what
makes some neighborhoods
or landscapes more satisfying
and easy to navigate than others
and ways to categorize the
feelings of all you experience
in a place like Grand Canyon
or in a gothic cathedral.
Conservation psychology is
an interdisciplinary area
in which psychologists
partner with other experts,
such as conservation biologists
or sustainability professionals,
to address human factors related
to the conservation of wildlife
and resources, like how
emotional connections made
with captive animals in zoos can
lead to efforts to protect them
in the wild, or why some energy
conservation programs work
and others backfire.
Some psychologists take
a more holistic approach.
Ecopsychology focuses on our
interdependence and interbeing
with the rest of
the natural world
and how this influences
people's identity,
their sense of being
connected to something larger
than themselves, and the pain
that they feel about issues
such as species extinction.
For example, how do you avoid
becoming depressed or just tuned
out about issues like
toxins in the environment?
Or can going outside and working
with animals make mental
health therapy more effective?
Doing environmental psychology
may also mean taking a hard look
at the field of psychology
itself
and how the Western
conception of mind as separate
from nature may actually
distance people
from the natural world and
contribute to the development
of environmental problems.
