1
Restorative environments:
Theory and resarch
On behavioral changes resulting from
spending time in specific environments
Nature as a Restorative Agent
• Central Park, New York: Created because one
believed that nature was important to
people’s emotional and physiological health
• As most people today live in urban settings,
nature may be even more important than
earlier
Motives and benefits associated with
nature
• Cognitive freedom
• Escape
• Experience nature
• Growth
• Challenge
• Guidance
• Social
• Health
• Self-control
• Eco-system connectedness
2
Identity, Connectedness, and Nature
• Environmental identity: How deeply we
identify with nature
– When nature becomes associated with the self,
we may be motivated to protect it as we would
protect ourselves
– ”Loving nature to death”?
Mental fatigue as a problem in modern
society: Negative consequences
• Aggressiveness
• Less tolerance
• Reduced sensitivity to social signals
• Less helpfulness
• Reduced self-control
• “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”
Current theories on restorative
environments
• Focus on conditions that make restoration
necessary
• Focus on urbanites who seek nature in order
to recover/ ”recharge the batteries”
3
Early research on health effects of nature
• The quality of the view from the window as a
factor in the recovery of hospitalised persons
(Verderber,1986)
• The view of nature as important for recovery
after surgery (Ulrich,1984)
• Clear relation between prisoners’ use of
health services and the view from the cell
window (Moore,1981)
Theories on restorative environments
• What is being restored?
• How is the process of restoration described?
• Descriptions of restorative environments
• A resource must have been depleted, such as
the ability to maintain or improve adaptation
to the the environment
The process of restoration
• A number of processes leading to renewal or
recovery of adaptive resources or abilities
• The processes are of a psychological nature
• The theory should define the restorative process in
terms of the resources being restored and the
psychological, physiological and/or social
mechanisms at work
• How much time is needed for recovery?
4
Description of restorative
environments
• A theory of restorative environments should
be able to predict changes resulting from
spending time in specific environments
Roger Ulrichs theory: Psychophysiological
recovery from stress
• Preceeding state: Stress
– Reaction to challenge or threat to well-
being/survival
– Assumes an innate emotional response leading to
”fight or flight”
– Mobilisation of necessary resources
– Indications:
• Negative emotions
• Activation of the autonomous nervous system
The process of recovery
• Exposure to scenes eliciting mild to moderate
interest, well-being and calm, without a need
to be ”on the guard”
• Negative emotions are being substituted by
positive, negative thoughts are blocked and
activation of the sympatic nervous system
decreases
5
Restorative environments
• Restorative responses are switched on
through attention to preferred environmental
patterns:
– Moderate complexity
– Focal point
– Natural elements: Vegetation, water (both are
survival signals and elicit positive emotions)
Ulrich’s theory: Empirical findings
• Measurement of emotional and physiological
changes of relatively short duration
• Exposure to photographic simulations of natural
and urban environments
– Emotional and physiological results under or directly
after exposure depended on the type of envirnments
being exposed
• Nature scenes resulted in decreased sadness and
anger/agression and increased positive emotions
Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan
& Kaplan)
• Preceeding state
– Depletion of the ability to inhibit competing
stimuli in order to focus on something
uninteresting
– Leads to irritability, a lack of planning ability,
reduced self control etc
6
The process of recovery
• Through the experience of fascination:
– F. is effortless and has unlimited capacity
– Lessens demands on the central inhibitory
mechanism
Kaplan & Kaplans theory on restorative
environments
• Preferred environments are also restorative
because humans are assumed to be
genetically prepared for processing of
information that are typical of natural
environments (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Hartig,
1993).
Two types of attention (James, 1892)
• «Involuntary» attention
– When attention is drawn towards something we
experience as interesting
– When something exciting or interesting happens
and we focus upon it without effort
– Restoration of mental energy
• «Voluntary» or directed attention
– Focusing on something that does not draw our
attention by itself
7
Kaplan & Kaplan’s (1989) Attention
Restoration Theory
• Mental fatigue: A consequence of ”directed
attention”
• ”Involuntary attention”:
– Elicited by fascinating qualities found for example
in natural environments
– Restores the capacity for directed attention
Kaplan & Kaplan (1989): Four key components in
restorative environments
• Being away
– Involvement in cognitive content different from
the usual
• Extent
– Experience of totality and meaning
• Fascination
– Fascinating stimuli elicit involuntary attention
• Person – environment compatibility
– Matching the characteristics of the environment
and the needs and behaviours of the individual
Comparing Ulrich and Kaplan &
Kaplan
• Are the theories complemenetary?
– Preceeding states that are not necessarily interrelated
• Ulrich: Psychophysiological stress
• Kaplan & Kaplan: Failure of focused attention
– Description of attention in natural surroundings
– K&K:ffortless
– U: Unguarded
• Differing implications: Attentional capaicity versus physiological
reactions
– Different effects of recovery
• Attentional versus physiological and emotional
• Probably simultaneous processes
8
Article 1:
THE RESTORATIVE BENEFITS OF NATURE: TOWARD AN
INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK
Article author: STEPHEN KAPLAN
Department of Psychology, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
Main points
• Directed attention and its fatigue has far-reaching
consequences.
• Introduces Attention Restoration Theory, as an explanation of
the processes leading to recovery from fatigue.
• Natural environments as promotive of restorative
experiences
• Proposes a framework integrating directed attention and
stress in the context of human-environmentrelationships.
Background/point of departure
• Rapidly accumulating evidence on to the
psychological benefits of nature but less
developed theoretical understanding
• Theory has been dominated by conflicting
positions: stress reduction versus recovery of
the capacity to focus attention
• The purpose of this paper:
– To propose an integration of the apparently
conflicting positions mentioned above
9
Background for the concept of Directed Attention
• William James (1892): ‘voluntary attention’
– Supporting a weak intention by protecting it from competing thoughts
> inhibition of distractions
• Olmsted (1865): The need for urban dwellers to recover the
capacity to focus
• Clinical neurology: Deficits in ”Directed attention” (Mesulman,
1985) due to damage in prefrontal cortex and ’executive
functioning’
Directed attention fatigue and basic processes
• The mechanism of directed attention
• Requires effort
• central in focusing
• under voluntary control
• susceptible to fatigue
• works through inhibition
• Evolutionary mechanism
– In nature, being alert was more important than being able to contrate
over time
– Today the split between the important and the interesting has become
extreme
Directed attention fatigue can have serious
consequences
• Selection: Attentional capacity under voluntary control is essential for
problem solving
• Inhibition and affect: An inhibitory capacity under voluntary control is
essential for behaving appropriately
• Fragility: Susceptible to fatigue
• Perception: Impaired by lack of directed attention
• Thought: D.a. necessary for stepping back from the immediate situation
• Action: Lack of inhibition makes behaviour less adaptive and appropriate
• Feeling: Irritability, less willingness to help
10
The Restorative Experience: Involuntary
attention/Fascination
• To rest directed attention, it is necessary to find other basis
for maintaining focus, rendering directed attention
temporarily unnecessary
• Involuntary attention (W. James) = Fascination (Kaplan &
Kaplan)
– effortless, thus resistant to fatigue
– Allows directed attention to rest
– Hard fascination: the city
– Soft fascination: characteristic of natural settings
The Restorative Experience: Three additional
components
• Being away: Conceptually or physically
• Extent: A whole other world
• Person-environment compatiblity
Nature and the restorative environment
• Being away: Nature provides an opportunity
• Soft fascinations: clouds, sunsets, motion of
leaves, water…
• Extent: Wilderness, japanese gardens
• Compatibility: Functioning in nature require
often less effort and allows many patterns
11
Nature and the restorative environment:
Empirical findings
• Hartig et al (1991): Wilderness group showed better
performance on attention demanding task
• Hartig et al (1991): Exposure to nature after fatigueing task
resulted in better subsequent performance
• Cimprich (1992, 1993): Attentional deficits in cancer patients
improved after nature-based activities
• Tennessen & Cimprich (1995): Restorative benefits of natural
view from dormitory window: More effective functioning in
daily life
Toward an integration of stress-oriented and attentionoriented
theories
• Point of departure: ”Physiological and
psychological stress reactions are interrelated,
and do not occur alone” (Fisher et al, 1984)
• Three factors leading to stress
– Direct
– Perceptual pattern
– …or signal
Three patterns leading to both resource deficiencies and stress
responses
1. Resource deficiency as precursor to stress
2. Stress leading to resource deficiency
3. Circumstances that simultaneously lead to stress and
resource deficiency
Studies supporting the integrativ framework
• Bognen et al. (1990): Stress response may be due to ineffective
coping with demands (i.e., resource depletion)
• Lundberg et al (1993): Stress responses interpretable as resulting
from resource depletion
12
Conclusion
• Purpose of paper: Propose a framework that distinguishes
between the stress-related and the attentional components
that lead people to seek restorative experiences
• Points to two distinct but interacting benefits of restorative
experiences: stress reduction and recovery from mental
fatigue
• Points to the role of directed attetion in coping with
challenges
Article 2
RATING SCALE MEASURES OF RESTORATIVE COMPONENTS OF
ENVIRONMENTS
KARIN LAUMANN, TOMMY GARLING
AND KJELL MORTEN STORMARK
Journal of Environmental Psychology (2001) 21, 31-44
Purpose of research
• Develop rating scale measures of the four
components postulated by Kaplan and Kaplan
(1989) in order to:
– Evaluate Kaplan and Kaplan's (1989) theory by
showing that the hypothesized components being
away, extent, fascination, and compatibility are
separate
– Develop a measure of the restorative components
13
Earlier similar attempt (Hartig et al, 1996, 1997):
Hartig’s PRS scale
• Did not consistently confirm the four-factor
structure, as only two factors emerged.
• Laumann’ s purpose is to remedy the
shortcomings of Hartig’s PRS scale
Restorative components as preference
predictors
• Kaplan & Kaplan (1989): a preferred
environment is more likely to be a restorative
environment’
• The measures of the restorative components
would predict preferences for the
environments
Study 1: Method
• Recalling environments from memory as an initial test of
whether the measures could distinguish between
environments differing in restorative capacity.
• Measures
– Descriptive phrases were selected on the basis of
Kaplan and Kaplan's (1989) description of the
four restorative components
– Pilot study: descriptors removed if they failed to
show high correlations with other descriptors
intended to tap the same component or if
inclusion reduced Cronbach's alpha. Resulted in
38 unipolar rating scales
• Translation check
14
Study 1: Method
• Questionnaire
• Seven step rating scale for each descriptor: not
at all (0), very little (1), rather little (2), neither
little nor much (3), rather much (4), very much
(5), and completely (6)
• Background questions; Age, sex,
environmemental experiences and preferences
(nature vs city)
Subjects and procedure.
• Subjects: 321Norwegian undergraduate
university students
• Filled in questionnaire after lecture
• Questionnaire: two pages of rating scales
– one for nature environment
– one for city environment
– Data analysed for 238 subjects; 93 men and 145
women, mean age 22.9 yrs.
Study 1: Results and discussion
• The most important data analyses in the study
are a series of factor analyses which on the
overall yielded very clear and unambiguous
factor solutions. A word on the rationale
behind the choice of extraction and rotation
methods would be preferable.
15
Study 2 (n =177)
• A further test of how well the constructed instrument
differentiates between environments with varying degrees of
restorativeness.
• Five videos were developed from forest, park, sea area, city,
snowy mountain, all assumed to exhibit various degree of
restorativeness.
• Critique: Little information on the reasons for the sampling of
environments are given
Study 2: results
• The factors identified differentiated between the
environments
• Two nature environments, forest and sea area, were rated
reliably higher on all restorative components than the city
environment.
• The city was rated higher than the park on extent, fascination
and compatibility.
• The park was rated higher on escape and novelty (being away)
• The park chosen probably a suboptimal example of this type
of natural environment.
Conclusions: Both studies
• Samples: Convenience sample; a population
which is close at hand is chosen
– Representativity for the general population is
unknown
– Generalisability of the results is not known.
– A follow-up in a representative sample is
recommended.
16
Important contribution to the advancement of psychological research on
restorative environments
• Instrument development: a serious, well-founded and successful attempt
at constructing a valid measure of restorativeness of environments’
• A contribution to the methodological development in the field.
• Empirical findings: ‘
– Test of Kaplan & Kaplan’s theory of restorative environments. Confirmed
theoretical assumptions that the restorative components of environments can
be described in terms of fascination, extent, compatibility and being away.
– The nature of fascination may differ in nature and city surroundings.
– At least two outcomes of restoration: relaxation and cognitive restoration.
Summary
• The article reports findings from two studies
with the aim of developing a set of rating scale
measures of restorative components of
environments.
• Study 1 (n=238): Subjects imagined
themselves to be either in a nature
environment or a city environment while
rating scales intended to describe how they
experienced the environments
• Study 2 (n=177) subjects viewed videos of a
forest, park, sea area, city, and a snowy
mountain, rating the same scales
Summary
– Results confirmed Kaplan and Kaplan’s (1989)
theory
– Being away factor split into two factors: 1.
being physically away and 2. being
psychologically away.
– Natural environments scored higher than city
environments on all measures
– Compatibility and fascination predicted
preference
– Escape and compatibility predicted relaxation.
17
Article 3
Selective attention and heart rate responses to
natural and
urban environments
Karin Laumann,*, Tommy Garling,
Kjell Morten Stormark
Journal of Environmental Psychology 23 (2003) 125–134
Assumptions and purpose
• Assumes that natural environments have properties
that attract involuntary attention, allowing recovery
from mental fatigue resulting from directed
attention.
• Aims at empirical tests of:
– Kaplan’s (1995) theoretical integration of the ART
– Ulrich’s psycho-evolutionary theory.
• Employs Posner et al.’s attention – orienting task as a
measure of selective or directed attention.
• An important question is whether the Posner task in
fact is a good measure of involuntary and directed
attention.
Design
• Experimental study conducted with a small
group (n=28) of voluntary participants,
assigned randomly to either a nature or an
urban environment group
• Innovative and elegant design.
• The procedure is very clearly described
assuring replicability.
18
Design
• Environmental simulations (videos) developed on the
basis of findings reported in Laumann et al 2001)
• Natural environment: Same waterfront environment
as in the 2001 study because it scored particularly
high on restorative components: Sounds from waves,
birds, insects and boats passing by
• Urban environment recorded: Oslo, including a walk
along a main pedestrian street ending up at a bus
station. Sounds from cars, people talking,
construction equipment, street musicians.
Results
• Subjects who had been exposed to nature
exhibited
– 1) significantly longer IBI (lower HR) compared to
the baseline for this group.
– 2) significantly longer IBI (lower HR) during the
video than during the baseline phase.
• Subjects who had been exposed to urban
video did not exhibit any significant change in
IBI compared to baseline phase.
Results
• The IBI findings suggest that exposure to nature had
an arousal reducing effect, thus confirming Ulrich’s
predictions.
• Confirming ART: HR deceleration is an indication of a
state of sensory intake and involuntary attention.
• Increased HR during mentally loading tasks also
indicate that this task triggers voluntary attention
and environmental rejection (i.e. an inhibitory
mechanism)
19
Results
• Reduced arousal effect of exposure to nature:
Important step further in understanding why
nature is experienced as restorative and in
connecting ART with psychophysiological
theory.
Discussion
• The hypothesis that exposure to nature would
result in less mental fatigue and thus a greater
capacity for directed attention was not
confirmed: Should the theory be revised at
this point?
• The task employed in this study may not be
the most adequate test of ART: More
appropriate to apply tests of a broad
attentional focus?
One possible weakness
• This is an experimental study, but there is no
control group (but what should the control
condition be?)
– Two experimental conditions: nature and urban
– Urban environments may have some restorative
effect, thus the manipulation is not between a
positive and negative condition
20
Summary
• An attempt at empirically testing Kaplan’s (1995)
theoretical integration of the ART and Ulrich’s
psycho-evolutionary theory
• Experimental study (n=28)
• Results
– Clear effect of mental load: reduced Interbeat
interval (IBI, a measure of increased heart rate)
– Video exposure: Significantly larger increase in IBI
(a measure of reduced arousal) for nature group
than for urban group
• Hypothesis that exposure to nature would result in
less mental fatigue and thus a greater capacity for
directed attention was not confirmed
Article 4
Housing and Mental Health: A review of the Evidence and a
Methodological and Conceptual Critique
Evans, G.W, Wells, N.M., Moch, A.
(2003)
Journal of Social Issues
Main points
• Research on housing and mental health is remarkably
underdeveloped
• Critical review of existing research on the immediate
residential space focusing on three dimensions
– Housing type
– Floor level
– Housing quality
• Discussion of methodologicaland conceptual shortcomings, in
particular moderators and mediators
– A theoretical framework for future research
– Policy implications
21
The literature review
• Research on each category (ex: housing type) is summarized
chronologically in tables
– Housing variables are characterised
– Mental health outcome measures are described
– Whether reliability and validity data are available is indicated
– Main and interactive effects are described
• Brief summaries of general findings/trends, explanatory
mechanisms, methodological issues
Housing Type
• Main findings
– Multi - dwelling housing is associated with adverse psychological
health
– High – rise: More mental health problems
– Single – family detached homes: Best in terms of mental health
• Explanations
– High-rise: Social isolation, no access to play spaces
– Multi-dwelling: Possible stigmatization / fear of crime
• Methodological problems:
– Lack of control for confounding variables
Floor level of Dwelling
• Poorer mental health at higher floor levels
• Explanations
– Anxiety about accident and falls, less social
networks
• Methodological problems:
– Self-selection bias
– Ignores within – floor heterogeneity
22
Children’s well-being
• High – rise: More behavioural problems,
restricted play opportunities
• Possible explanations
– (Inadequate) Parent – child relations
– Monitoring and supervision (difficult)
– Lack of contact with the natural environment
– Safety concerns
• Methodological problems:
– Unclear direction of causality: Self-selection
Overall housing quality
• Operationalizations
– Structural deficiencies
– Cockroach and rodent infestations
– Dampness
– Mold
– Housing dissatisfaction
– Neighbourhood comparisons
– Comparisons of difficult to rent
versus low – vacancy housing
• Findings:
• Housing quality is positively correlated
with psychological well-being
• Housing quality may influence
psychosocial processes that affect
mental health
• Inconclusive due to methodological
problems
Unsupportive environments: The case of Pruitt-Igoe
housing project
• Yancey (1971): Pruitt-Igoe in St.Louis , Missouri
• 43 11-storey buildings housing more han 12000 people
• A shocking example of extreme atomisation of residents
– High degrees of hostility
– No social support
– 1970: 27 of 43 buildings were totally vacant,
– 1972: the entire project demolished
• Eplanations:
– The design of public space: lacking approariate public and semi-public
spaces
– No defensible space: areas that can be regularly used and controlled by
residents
– Illustrated by a situation due to maintenance of one building
• A fence around the building restricted acces to residents: Crime rates
fell dramatically
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd7VOz_Wstg
23
Conceptual issues: Moderation
• Moderating processes (interaction effects) not
taken into account in housing research
– Personal variables
– Social and physical context: Income level,
neighborhood quality, SES
Conceptual issues: Mediation –psychological processes that might account for
linkages between housing and psychological well-being
• Identity – house as symbol of the self
• Insecurity
– involuntary relocation: negative impacts on
children
– Instability – affects socioemotional development
– Insecure housing and poor health
– Hazards in high rise buildings
– Low visual access
– Vandalism
Conceptual issues: Mediation
• Social support
– Women in high-rise: More loneliness, less social contact
– Design may influence social support
– Instrumental forms of social support : access to neighbours with
useful knowledge
• Parenting
– Inadequate housing and restrictive parenting
– rigid control
– Lack of outdoor playground associated with several problems
– Parents’ self-esteem and self-efficacy is affected by housing
problems
• Control
– Housing quality and learned helplessness
– Self-efficacy may be influenced by inability to control and regulate
access to space etc
– Duration of residency and frequeny of moves
24
Mediator variables
• When a predictor variable and an outcome variable
have a significant relationship, which is, in turn,
influenced by a third variable, the relationship is said
to be mediated by the third variable.
• In this relationship the predictor variable influences
the mediating variable in a causal manner.
• This mediating variable then leads to the outcome,
creating the relationship between the predictor and
outcome. It is only because of this mediating variable
that a relationship between the predictor and
outcome exists.
Example: relation between single-parent home
and substance abuse
• Being raised in a single-parent home can lead
to increased exposure to stress and that
increased exposure to stress, not being raised
in a single-parent home, leads to substance
abuse or dependence
Moderator variables
• A variable indicating the conditions under which a
specific effect occurs as well as how the direction or
strength varies within a given relationship
• Indicates that an effect only occurs under specific
conditions
• “a qualitative (e.g., sex, race, class) or quantitative
(e.g., level of reward) variable that affects the
direction and/or strength of the relation between
and independent or predictor variable and a
dependent or criterion variable” (Baron and Kenny,
1986, p. 1174)
25
Moderator variables
• The impact of the predictor variable on the
outcome is dependent on the value of the
moderating variable
• No causal inferences can be drawn from a
moderated relationship; relationships can only
be described as correlated.
Policy Implications
• Efforts should be made to reduce the height and overall size
of multiple-familiy dwellings
• Particular attention should be paid to spaces to support
neighboring, informal contact and adequate play spaces for
children
• Need for more attention on mental health of the elderly in
relation to housing and neighborhood characteristics
• Research should be focused on more rigorous evaluations of
housing improvements for low-income families
Methodological issues: the problem of selection
• Those with poorer mental health will often be
selected or drift into the least desirable
environments
• Early studies were unable to distinguish
between causation (by the environment) and
(social) selection
• Social selection remains a serious issue in any
study of relationships between health and the
environment
26
Methodological issues:
The problem of response bias
• The perception and reporting of
environmental variables is strongly influenced
be the subject’s mental state
– The environment may cause mental health
problems, or
– The environment may be perceived as causing
mental health problems (bad mood phenomenon)
Methodological alternatives
• Requirement: Must be able to distingusih
among the effects of social, psychological and
environmental factors
• Ideal: RCT – studies (randomised controlled
trials) – not possible in the present context
• In reality, those with more resources end up in
the best environments
Situations in which the link between income and
housing quality is broken
• State subsidised housing is weakening the link
low income – low quality housing
• Canadian public housing: assigned separately
from the determination of rent: the higher
your income, the higher rent
27
Methodological alternatives
• Statistically control for effects of known
corellates of mental health, and examine the
residuals for the influence of the environment
• Problem: The partialling fallacy - the real
effect of the environment on mental health
could be removed when controlling for other
variables
• Environmental variables should be gathered
independently of mental health measures
Employ longitudinal design with same subjects but
changing environments
• Isolate the effects of a specific environmental
change or factor, such as a sudden increase in
noise levels
• Make investigations before and after onset of
environmental problem, and compare to area
without noise problems
Article 5: Faber Taylor, A., Kuo, F. &
Sullivan, W. C. (2001).
Coping with ADD: The Surprising
Connection to Green Play Settings.
Environment & Behavior, 33, 54-77.
28
A study conducted byA study conducted by
Andrea Faber Taylor, Frances E.Andrea Faber Taylor, Frances E. KuoKuo,,
and William C.and William C. SullivanSullivan
(Power point slides provided by the authors)(Power point slides provided by the authors)
The University of Illinois at UrbanaThe University of Illinois at Urbana--ChampaignChampaign
HumanHuman--Environment Research LaboratoryEnvironment Research Laboratory
1103 S.1103 S. DornerDorner Drive, MCDrive, MC--636636
Urbana IL 61801Urbana IL 61801
Attention DeficitAttention Deficit
Hyperactivity DisorderHyperactivity Disorder
(AD/HD) is characterized by(AD/HD) is characterized by
severe difficulties withsevere difficulties with
inattention and impulsivity.inattention and impulsivity.
AD/HD symptoms includeAD/HD symptoms include
•• restlessnessrestlessness
•• outburstsoutbursts
•• trouble listeningtrouble listening
•• difficulty following directionsdifficulty following directions
•• problems focusing on tasksproblems focusing on tasks
29
Why should we focus on AD/HD?Why should we focus on AD/HD?
•• AD/HD is relatively common, occurring inAD/HD is relatively common, occurring in
roughly 7% of schoolroughly 7% of school--age children.age children.
•• AD/HD is linked to poor academicAD/HD is linked to poor academic
performance.performance.
•• AD/HD can have longAD/HD can have long--lasting effects onlasting effects on
social development.social development.
New treatment options are needed forNew treatment options are needed for
AD/HD becauseAD/HD because
•• Behavioral therapies help, but not much.Behavioral therapies help, but not much.
•• stimulant medications are better, butstimulant medications are better, but
have several problemshave several problems
•• They often have serious side effects.They often have serious side effects.
•• They help only 9 out of 10 children withThey help only 9 out of 10 children with
AD/HD.AD/HD.
•• There is no evidence they improve longThere is no evidence they improve long--
term social and academic outcomes.term social and academic outcomes.
Problems with stimulant medication:Problems with stimulant medication:
30
According toAccording to Attention RestorationAttention Restoration
TheoryTheory
•• Nature is engaging, so attracts ourNature is engaging, so attracts our
attentionattention
effortlessly.effortlessly.
•• This allows deliberate attention to rest.This allows deliberate attention to rest.
•• Restored deliberate attention is thenRestored deliberate attention is then
availableavailable when needed.when needed.
••SinceSince the underlyingthe underlying
problem in AD/HD seems toproblem in AD/HD seems to
be one of attentionbe one of attention……
•• Perhaps exposure toPerhaps exposure to
nature can improve AD/HDnature can improve AD/HD
symptoms?symptoms?
TheThe participants:participants:
•• 96 parents or guardians of children with96 parents or guardians of children with
AD/HD aged 7AD/HD aged 7--1212
•• recruited through ads and flyers in therecruited through ads and flyers in the
MidwestMidwest
•• ratio of boys to girls in sample same as inratio of boys to girls in sample same as in
AD/HD populations in general (3:1)AD/HD populations in general (3:1)
31
The survey asked parents toThe survey asked parents to
•• nominate activities that especiallynominate activities that especially
affected functioningaffected functioning –– “best activities”“best activities”
and “worst activities”and “worst activities”
•• rate the aftereffects of activities, groupedrate the aftereffects of activities, grouped
by setting, onby setting, on symptomssymptoms
•• The relationship between greenness ofThe relationship between greenness of
activity settings and symptom severityactivity settings and symptom severity
was examined.was examined.
Was there a relationshipWas there a relationship
between activities that mostbetween activities that most
affect functioning and theaffect functioning and the
greenness of their setting?greenness of their setting?
Likely Setting Best Worst
Green
(e.g., fishing,
soccer)
85% (17) 15% (3)
Ambiguous
(rollerblading,
playing outside)
56% (43) 44% (34)
Not Green
(video games,
TV)
43% (53) 57% (69)
Likely settings of activitiesLikely settings of activities
nominated as “Best” and “Worst”nominated as “Best” and “Worst”
for AD/HD symptomsfor AD/HD symptoms
32
Was there a relationshipWas there a relationship
between greenness ofbetween greenness of
activity setting and ratings ofactivity setting and ratings of
postpost--activity symptoms?activity symptoms?
Mean symptom ratings forMean symptom ratings for
activities in different greennessactivities in different greenness
settingssettings
SameSame 3
1
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
BetterBetter 4
IndoorsIndoors Built outdoorBuilt outdoor Green outdoorGreen outdoor
ActivityActivity SettingSetting
Mean rating ofMean rating of
AD/HDAD/HD
symptoms aftersymptoms after
activitiesactivities
Much worseMuch worse
Tips for parents, teachers, andTips for parents, teachers, and
caregivers:caregivers:
•• Encourage children to play outside inEncourage children to play outside in
green yards or parks and advocategreen yards or parks and advocate
recess in green schoolyards.recess in green schoolyards.
•• Observe which activities and settingsObserve which activities and settings
improve children’s symptoms.improve children’s symptoms.
•• Value and care for trees.Value and care for trees.
33
Article 6: Faber Taylor, A., Kuo, F.E.,
Sullivan, W.C. (2002). Views of nature
and self-discipline: Evidence from city
children. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 22, 49-63.
(Power point slides provided by the authors)
Main messageMain message
Girls with a view of nature at
home scored higher on tests of
self-discipline.
InnerInner--city girls are prone to riskycity girls are prone to risky
behaviors:behaviors:
•• academic underachievementacademic underachievement
•• juvenile delinquencyjuvenile delinquency
•• teenage pregnancyteenage pregnancy
•• substancesubstance abuseabuse
•• To avoid these problem behaviors, girlsTo avoid these problem behaviors, girls
need to have selfneed to have self--disciplinediscipline
Daily exposure to greenery may boost girls’Daily exposure to greenery may boost girls’
selfself--disciplinediscipline
34
SelfSelf--discipline exists in three forms:discipline exists in three forms:
•• concentrationconcentration
•• impulse inhibitionimpulse inhibition
•• delay of gratificationdelay of gratification
The following study explored whetherThe following study explored whether
exposure to greenery does lead toexposure to greenery does lead to
greater selfgreater self--discipline in childrendiscipline in children..
Green
views
Better
attention
Greater
self-discipline
•• buildings are similar; only the quantity ofbuildings are similar; only the quantity of
nearby vegetation differsnearby vegetation differs
•• residents are randomly assigned to buildingsresidents are randomly assigned to buildings
•• residents have similar characteristicsresidents have similar characteristics
The Robert Taylor HomesThe Robert Taylor Homes (Chicago)(Chicago)
werewere chosen as a research site becausechosen as a research site because
35
The participants wereThe participants were
•• recruited by doorrecruited by door--toto--door interviewersdoor interviewers
•• 169 mother or primary care169 mother or primary care--giver and childgiver and child
(7(7--12 year old) pairs12 year old) pairs
•• from 12 buildings that represented the fullfrom 12 buildings that represented the full
range of amount of nature visible from homerange of amount of nature visible from home
For each motherFor each mother--child pair, the trainedchild pair, the trained
resident interviewerresident interviewer
•• asked the mother or careasked the mother or care--giver to give both agiver to give both a
“green” rating and a “built” rating of their“green” rating and a “built” rating of their
apartment’s views.apartment’s views.
•• administered standardized tests of selfadministered standardized tests of self--
discipline to the childdiscipline to the child
Data collectionData collection
The standardized tests included tasksThe standardized tests included tasks
that measured the ability tothat measured the ability to
•• concentrateconcentrate
•• inhibit impulsesinhibit impulses
•• delay gratificationdelay gratification
Data collectionData collection
36
Children tested on
• concentration
• impulse inhibition
• delay of gratification
Adults asked,
“How natural is
your view?”
Green
views
Greater
self-discipline
All forms of selfAll forms of self--discipline werediscipline were
related to green views from homerelated to green views from home
-1
-.5
0
.5
1
1.5
2
1 2 30 4
-.5
1.5
1 2 3
-1
0
.5
1
2
0 4
-1
-.5
1.5
1 2 3
0
.5
1
2
0 4
Greenness of Apartment Views
Barren Very
green
Barren Very
green
Barren Very
green
Concentration Impulse
inhibition
Delay of
gratificationHigh
scores
Low
scores
Test
scores
-1
-.5
0
.5
1
1.5
2
1 2 3
Greenness of Apartment Views
0 4
High
scores
Low
scores
Combined
self-discipline
test scores
Barren Very green
SelfSelf--discipline increases as thediscipline increases as the
greenness of the view increasesgreenness of the view increases
37
On average, the greener a girl’s viewOn average, the greener a girl’s view
from home:from home:
• the better she concentrates
• the less she acts impulsively
• the longer she delays gratification
• …in short, the better her self-
discipline.
Two studiesTwo studies havehave shown thatshown that
boys’ attention is better afterboys’ attention is better after
playing in greener placesplaying in greener places..
•• Nature may affect boys just as muchNature may affect boys just as much
as girlsas girls
•• But because boys spend less time atBut because boys spend less time at
home than girls,home than girls, nearnear--homehome naturenature
affects boys less.affects boys less.
••Future studies may find that boys’ selfFuture studies may find that boys’ self--
discipline is related to the amount ofdiscipline is related to the amount of
nature in their play areanature in their play area –– wherever thatwherever that
isis..
The importance of self-discipline
•• Lack of selfLack of self--disciplinediscipline
may play a key role in:may play a key role in:
• teenage pregnanciesteenage pregnancies
•• juvenile delinquenciesjuvenile delinquencies
•• substance abusesubstance abuse
•• academicacademic
•• underachievementunderachievement
A selfA self--disciplined girldisciplined girl
will better handlewill better handle
• peer pressurepeer pressure
•• sexual pressuresexual pressure
•• challenging situationschallenging situations
•• make more thoughtfulmake more thoughtful
choiceschoices
•• do better in schooldo better in school
38
Since greenery near home increases selfSince greenery near home increases self--
discipline in girls…discipline in girls…
And greenery in usual play areas mayAnd greenery in usual play areas may
eventually be shown to improve selfeventually be shown to improve self--disciplinediscipline
in boys…in boys…
We should provide access to green views forWe should provide access to green views for
all children.all children.
Ideas for parents, caregivers, andIdeas for parents, caregivers, and
homeowners:homeowners:
•• Encourage girls to study or play in roomsEncourage girls to study or play in rooms
with a view of naturewith a view of nature
•• Encourage children to play in green spacesEncourage children to play in green spaces
and advocate recess in green school yardsand advocate recess in green school yards
•• Plant, value, and care for trees at yourPlant, value, and care for trees at your
residence and in your communityresidence and in your community