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. 2018 Mar 5;8(3):34.
doi: 10.3390/bs8030034.

An Individual's Connection to Nature Can Affect Perceived Restorativeness of Natural Environments. Some Observations about Biophilia

Rita Berto  1   2 , Giuseppe Barbiero  3   4 , Pietro Barbiero  5 , Giulio Senes  6
Affiliations

An Individual's Connection to Nature Can Affect Perceived Restorativeness of Natural Environments. Some Observations about Biophilia

Rita Berto et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the level to which a person feels connected to Nature and that person's ability to perceive the restorative value of a natural environment. We assume that perceived restorativeness may depend on an individual's connection to Nature and this relationship may also vary with the biophilic quality of the environment, i.e., the functional and aesthetic value of the natural environment which presumably gave an evolutionary advantage to our species. To this end, the level of connection to Nature and the perceived restorativeness of the environment were assessed in individuals visiting three parks characterized by their high level of "naturalness" and high or low biophilic quality. The results show that the perceived level of restorativeness is associated with the sense of connection to Nature, as well as the biophilic quality of the environment: individuals with different degrees of connection to Nature seek settings with different degrees of restorativeness and biophilic quality. This means that perceived restorativeness can also depend on an individual's "inclination" towards Nature.

Keywords: biophilia; biophilic quality; connection to Nature; perceived restorativeness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) classes according to Paracchini et al. [55]. In this study, ROS served to classify the biophilic quality (BQ) of the settings: a ROS value from 1 to 4 indicates a setting with low BQ; a value from 5 to 9 indicates a setting with high BQ.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Description of the four settings.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean scores for the perceived restorativeness scale (PRS), familiarity (FAM) and preference (PREF) (upper graph) and for the connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (lower graph) for each setting. A significant effect emerged for all the variables which differentiated significantly across settings following roughly this decreasing order: Devero, ValGrande, Ticino/Trenno.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean scores for the perceived restorativeness scale (PRS), familiarity (FAM) and preference (PREF) (upper graph) and for the connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (lower graph) for each setting. A significant effect emerged for all the variables which differentiated significantly across settings following roughly this decreasing order: Devero, ValGrande, Ticino/Trenno.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Four scatter plots, one for each setting: the x-axis represents the PRS and the y-axis represents the CNS; each axis is associated with the corresponding distribution through a histogram and a probability density function. The CNS distribution is approximately the same for all settings, while the PRS distribution lowers to the left only for low BQ settings.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The figure on the left shows that the PRS discriminates between restorative and non-restorative settings (median cut-off score: 5). On the contrary, the scatter plot on the right points out that PRS score above 8.5, in exponential scale, is a good feature for setting classification.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Hypothesized model where perceived restorativeness (PR) is the product of an individual’s connection to Nature (CN) and the biophilic quality of the environment (BQ). A subject’s perceived restorativeness is only high when he/she is exposed to an environment characterized by biophilic quality that exactly fits his/her own level of connection to nature.
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