Psychological Restoration As a Function of the Social Quality of an Encounter in Nature

Henk Staats (Leiden University)

This study investigated whether acquaintanceship with a person encountered in nature affects the process of restoration for participants who experienced a stressful episode. An experimental study with a 4 (phases of stress and recovery) x 3(encounter; no one , stranger, familiar superior) mixed design was employed to investigate whether the quality of the relationship with the encountering person made a difference in the restorative effect of a walk in a natural environment. The MIST (Montreal Imaging Stress Task) was used to induce stress in 79 participants (students, 75% female, Mage 21.3 years) who were subsequently shown a video of a forest walk in which they either saw no one, encountered a stranger, or encountered a person whom they knew to be in an important position at their university. Self-reports and physiological measurements (heart rate) were used to gain insight in the process of restoration in nature and the effects of an encounter with a person (physically the same person) in different social roles, i.e, a stranger or a superior. We hypothesized, in line with the classical view of restoration in nature, that being alone would provide the strongest restorative effects, compared to the encounter with a stranger, this condition being again more restorative than the encounter with a familiar superior. Dependent variables were heart rate, self-reported affect (PANAS), and the restorative quality of the experience, in particular being away.

The physiological data gave support to the beneficial effects of nature on restoration. Encountering a stranger caused an increase in heart rate, just as after the encounter with the superior. In the superior condition an additional aftereffect occurred besides heart rate rising, with participant’s sensation of being away from daily stressors being significantly lower, compared to that of participants meeting no one, or a stranger.