Harrison, Neil (2023) Level of attention mediates the association between connectedness to nature and aesthetic evaluations of photographs of nature. PeerJ - The Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences. ISSN 2167-8359
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Abstract
Aesthetic experiences of nature are associated with beneficial psychological and behavioural outcomes. We investigated in a laboratory study using a correlational design whether an individual’s level of connectedness to nature is associated with their aesthetic sensitivity to images of natural scenes, and whether the amount of attention allocated to the images mediated this association. Participants (N = 82) viewed 14 photographs depicting natural scenes and evaluated them on three aesthetic dimensions and completed the Connectedness to Nature (CN) and Openness to Experience (OtE) scales. CN positively predicted pleasure, beauty and aesthetic emotion, independently of OtE. The amount of attention participants paid to the images mediated the relationship between connectedness to nature and aesthetic pleasure, and connectedness to nature and beauty ratings. These findings extend our understanding by showing that attention is an important mechanism through which connectedness to nature influences aesthetic responses of pleasantness and beauty in response to natural scenes. The findings have real-world implications as appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of nature is associated with a number of beneficial psychological outcomes.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Psychology |
| Depositing User: | Neil Harrison |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Mar 2023 09:19 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Jun 2023 13:15 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3792 |
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