Happiness and Feeling Connected

Subjective connection with nature, or nature relatedness, is similar to other environmental worldview measures in predicting sustainable attitudes and behaviors, yet is unique in predicting happiness. In two studies, the authors assessed the overlap between nature relatedness and other subjective connections (e.g., with friends or country) and examined these connections as a possible confound in explaining the link between nature relatedness and happiness. Study 1 adapted a measure of general connectedness and administered it to student (n = 331) and community (n = 415) samples along with multiple nature relatedness and happiness indicators. Study 2 examined more established measures of subjective connections in another community sample (n = 204). General connectedness predicted happiness well, yet nature relatedness remained a significant distinct predictor of many happiness indicators, even after controlling for other connections. Results support the notion that nature relatedness could be a path to human happiness and environmental sustainability, though confirming this causal direction requires additional research.

[1]  J. Jonides,et al.  The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature , 2008, Psychological science.

[2]  Christian E. Waugh,et al.  Nice to know you: Positive emotions, self–other overlap, and complex understanding in the formation of a new relationship , 2006, The journal of positive psychology.

[3]  F. E. Kuo,et al.  Environment and Crime in the Inner City , 2001 .

[4]  Steven A. Murphy,et al.  The Nature Relatedness Scale , 2009 .

[5]  P. Schultz.  INCLUSION WITH NATURE: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN-NATURE RELATIONS , 2002 .

[6]  F. Mayer,et al.  The Emergency of Climate Change: Why Are We Failing to Take Action? , 2009 .

[7]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  C. Ryff.  Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. , 1989 .

[9]  Ed Diener,et al.  Very Happy People , 2002, Psychological science.

[10]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation , 1999 .

[11]  A. V. D. Berg,et al.  Health impacts of healing environments; a review of evidence for benefits of nature, daylight, fresh air, and quiet in healthcare settings , 2005 .

[12]  Sarah A. Conn.  Living in the earth: Ecopsychology, health and psychotherapy , 1998 .

[13]  C. Saunders.  The Emerging Field of Conservation Psychology , 2003 .

[14]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective , 1989 .

[15]  John M. Zelenski,et al.  Underestimating Nearby Nature , 2011, Psychological science.

[16]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.

[17]  M. Dimatteo,et al.  A short-form measure of loneliness. , 1987, Journal of personality assessment.

[18]  M. Berman,et al.  Directed Attention as a Common Resource for Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation , 2010, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[19]  A. Osman,et al.  The general belongingness scale (gbs): Assessing achieved belongingness , 2012 .

[20]  Mark R. Leary,et al.  Allo-inclusive identity: Incorporating the social and natural worlds into one's sense of self. , 2008 .

[21]  A. E. Luloff,et al.  Connectivity With Nature as a Measure of Environmental Values , 2007 .

[22]  A. Aron,et al.  Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness , 1992 .

[23]  C. Feral.  The connectedness model and optimal development: Is ecopsychology the answer to emotional well‐being? , 1998 .

[24]  F. Mayer,et al.  The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature ☆ , 2004 .

[25]  Victor Corral-Verdugo,et al.  Happiness as Correlate of Sustainable Behavior: A Study of Pro-Ecological, Frugal, Equitable and Altruistic Actions That Promote Subjective Wellbeing , 2011 .

[26]  E. Kals,et al.  Emotional Affinity toward Nature as a Motivational Basis to Protect Nature , 1999 .

[27]  C. Hazan,et al.  Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[28]  R. Ryan,et al.  On energy, personality, and health: subjective vitality as a dynamic reflection of well-being. , 1997, Journal of personality.

[29]  Stephen R. Kellert,et al.  Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia In Human Evolution And Development , 1997 .

[30]  Karen Buro,et al.  Nature connectedness: Associations with well-being and mindfulness , 2011 .

[31]  Lewis R Goldberg,et al.  Profiling the "pro-environmental individual": a personality perspective. , 2012, Journal of personality.

[32]  Steven A. Murphy,et al.  Happiness is in our Nature: Exploring Nature Relatedness as a Contributor to Subjective Well-Being , 2011 .

[33]  F. E. Kuo,et al.  Aggression and Violence in the Inner City , 2001 .

[34]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[35]  C. O'brien.  Sustainable happiness: How happiness studies can contribute to a more sustainable future. , 2008 .

[36]  E. Diener,et al.  Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[37]  Peter Schmuck,et al.  Psychology of sustainable development , 2002 .

[38]  Linda R. Tropp,et al.  Ingroup Identification as the Inclusion of Ingroup in the Self , 2001 .

[39]  T. Singelis,et al.  The Measurement of Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals , 1994 .

[40]  H. Wayment,et al.  Transcending self-interest: Psychological explorations of the quiet ego. , 2008 .

[41]  Elizabeth Ann Bragg,et al.  Towards ecological self : Deep ecology meets constructionist self-theory , 1996 .

[42]  Tim Kasser,et al.  Are Psychological and Ecological Well-being Compatible? The Role of Values, Mindfulness, and Lifestyle , 2005 .

[43]  Andrew K Przybylski,et al.  Can Nature Make Us More Caring? Effects of Immersion in Nature on Intrinsic Aspirations and Generosity , 2009, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[44]  H. Frumkin.  Beyond toxicity: human health and the natural environment. , 2001, American journal of preventive medicine.

[45]  Brian Knutson,et al.  Saving for the future self: neural measures of future self-continuity predict temporal discounting. , 2009, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[46]  F. Mayer,et al.  Why Is Nature Beneficial? , 2009 .

[47]  K. Röderer,et al.  Are nature lovers happy? On various indicators of well-being and connectedness with nature , 2012, Journal of health psychology.

[48]  R. Mitchell,et al.  Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study , 2008, The Lancet.