Nature connectedness
Nature connectedness is the extent to which individuals include nature as part of their identity. It includes an understanding of nature and everything it is made up of, even the parts that are not pleasing. Characteristics of nature connectedness are similar to those of a personality trait: nature connectedness is stable over time and across various situations.
Schultz describes three components that make up the nature connectedness construct:
- The cognitive component is the core of nature connectedness and refers to how integrated one feels with nature.
- The affective component is an individual's sense of care for nature.
- The behavioral component is an individual's commitment to protect the natural environment.
Other researchers describe the nature connectedness construct in a simpler manner. For instance, nature connectedness can be thought of as a love of nature. Similarly, nature connectedness can be defined as how much a person believes they are the same as nature or it can be thought of as simply feeling emotionally connected with nature. Nature connectedness is also known as nature relatedness, connectivity with nature, emotional affinity toward nature, or inclusion of nature in self.
Although nature relatedness is a stable individual trait, it can change based on one's experience with nature, meaning the more time an individual spends in nature, the more connected they feel to nature and the more concern they may feel for nature. Feeling connected to nature at a state level has many benefits as well such as more positive moods and less negative moods.
Even though humans derive many benefits from nature, our modern lifestyles have created a disconnect from the natural environment wherein we spend significantly more time indoors. Some researchers estimate that humans spend up to 90% of their lives indoors. Particularly in developed countries and countries with a high rate of urbanization, the level of connection to nature is significantly lower. This disconnection from nature can have a negative impact on humans because we are missing out on the beneficial effects of nature. As a result, we are less connected to nature and feel less responsibility to protect this environment.
Theory and biophilia
Our relationship with the natural environment can be understood through the concept of biophilia and the biophilia hypothesis. This term is defined as humans' innate need to affiliate with other life such as plants and animals. This essentially means that humans have a desire to be near nature. This built-in desire may be the result of spending the majority of our evolutionary history closely connected to nature. Biophilia is genetic, meaning those humans who were closely connected to nature throughout history would, presumably, have had better access to food and fresh water. For example, someone who lived close to water, near vegetation, or with a pet as a protector would have had survival advantages. Although evolutionary theory is difficult to test, the popularity of camping, hiking, and visiting the zoo, provide support for this theory.In his 1997 book, Kellert proposed that biophilia also provides us benefits such as an increase in well-being. Thus, being disconnected from the natural environment should have negative effects on humans' well-being.
The construct of nature connectedness is also related to a branch of psychology called ecopsychology. This branch seeks to examine how human well-being is related to the well-being of the natural environment. This theory is based on the idea that the needs of humans and nature are interdependent, so human health will suffer if nature does as well.
Restoration
Many daily activities in contemporary society demand directed attention. In order to sustain that demand, effort is required to gate competing stimuli or thoughts so that one can pay attention. The constant demand of the inhibitory control may cause that directed attention to become depleted and result in attention fatigue.Research in environmental psychology suggests that people's desire for contact with nature serves an important adaptive function, namely, psychological restoration. As yet, it remains to be empirically demonstrated that physical and psychological problems of urban living can arouse restoration needs that continuously maintain and reinforce nature-oriented preferences. One of the important aspects that environment can lead to restoration is that it has the potential to generate fascination to people; it is able to captivate so that the demand for involuntary attention of the person is lowered and the restoration can be performed. In addition to this, it should generate the feeling of being away as an escape from a certain environment or situation; extension, referring to the connection properties and environmental accessibility and compatibility between the characteristics of the environment with the goals and preferences of the individual.
As a measurement tool
There are at least seventeen scales which measure how connected an individual feels to nature. The three most commonly used scales are Nature Relatedness, Nature Connectedness, and Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale.The Nature Relatedness measure is a 21-item scale that measures how connected to nature participants feel at a trait level. Participants indicate their agreement with each statement using a Likert scale. There are three subscales to this measure; NR-self, NR-perspective, and NR- experience. NR-self measures how much individuals identify with nature, NR-perspective measures how concerned individuals may feel about the effect of human actions on the environment, and NR-experience measures how comfortable individuals are in nature and their desire to be involved with nature. This scale shows good reliability, alpha =.87 and test-retest stability six months later, alpha =.85. There is also a brief Nature Relatedness Scale made up of six items from the original 21 items. The purpose of this scale is to measure how connected an individual feels to nature but in a shorter way. This scale shows good reliability, alpha =.87 and test-retest stability six months later, alpha =.88.
The Connectedness to Nature Scale . This scale measures how emotionally connected people feel to the natural world, animals, and plants. It also assesses people's perceived equality between nature and themselves. An example of an item is "I recognize and appreciate the intelligence of other living organisms." These items are rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 where higher scores demonstrate a higher connection to nature. This scale can be used both at the trait and state level. The state version is 13 items and shows acceptable reliability. The trait version is 14 items and also demonstrates good reliability. This scale's validity is demonstrated by its positive associations with other environmental scales but is not associated with verbal ability or social desirability. See also Connectedness to nature scale.
Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale This single-item question was designed to measure the extent that individuals include nature as part of their identity. This measure uses a pair of circles with one circle labeled self and the other circle labeled nature. Participants are asked to choose the pair of circles that best describes their relationship with the natural environment. There are seven pairs of circles that differ on the extent that they overlap. Individuals who are very connected to nature choose the pair of circles that completely overlap while individuals who are not connected to nature choose circles that are non-overlapping. This scale has been shown to correlate positively with the New Ecological Paradigm Revised Scale, nature relatedness and simply walking in nature. This scale can also be used to measure how connected to nature people feel in the moment by changing the wording to "how interconnected are you with nature RIGHT NOW." Below is the INS scale.
Other ways to measure an individual's connection to nature include the Allo-Inclusive Scale and the Implicit Associates Test-Nature.
The Allo-Inclusive Scale is adapted from the Inclusion of Others in the Self Scale by Aron et al.. The Allo-Inclusive Scale contains seven pairs of Venn diagrams that range in how far apart the circles are. In the first pair, there is no overlap, but as you get to the second or third pair, the circles begin to overlap more and more. In the last pair, the circles completely overlap. Participants respond to eight items by choosing the pair of circles that best denotes their connection with that particular item. A sample item is "The connection between you and a wild animal." There are also eight other items to this scale that assess how connected participants feel to people. This scale shows acceptable reliability and validity. This scale is not contaminated with social desirability biases. The NR scale, the Allo-Inclusive scale, and the CN scale are highly correlated with one another, suggesting they are all part of the nature-connectedness construct.
Implicit Associates Test-Nature seeks to measure participant's implicit attitudes towards the two targets of self and nature. This measure is completed on a computer by working with 150 stimulus words. The stimulus words contain 25 insect names, 25 flower names, 25 musical instrument names, 25 weapon names, 25 pleasant-meaning words, and 25 unpleasant-meaning words. The participants are shown a set of words and then press a key in response to the words. The participants' reaction times represent their connection between themselves and nature.
The Illustrated Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale is a graphical extension of the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale. As with the original scale, it is a single-item question that measures nature connectedness with seven circle pairs that overlap to varying degrees. The IINS was developed to measure the nature connectedness of young students or people with special cognitive needs. For this purpose, the original circle pairs were extended by graphical elements created on the basis of children's perception of nature. The scale shows a high positive correlation with the Connectedness to Nature Scale and the Nature Relatedness Scale.