EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE AND NATURE RELATEDNESS ON GOALS: IMPLICATIONS FOR MATERIALISM A thesis submitted to The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology by Raelyne L. Dopko Carleton University Ottawa, ON © 2017 Raelyne Dopko EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE Abstract Materialism, the high importance individuals assign to owning material items, is generally associated with less human happiness and fewer sustainable behaviours. In this thesis, I proposed nature contact as a novel solution for decreasing materialistic aspirations, increasing mood, and fostering environmental concern. I used self-determination theory to propose that nature contact may orient people towards pro-social goals (e.g., intrinsic goals, environmental concern) while shifting people away from extrinsic goals (e.g., materialism). I proposed that people need to affiliate and connect with nature, which is consistent with the biophilia hypothesis and ecopsychology. When this need is met, I hypothesized that intrinsic goals and mood would increase, decreasing materialistic aspirations. Nature relatedness, feeling part of the natural environment, was explored as a mediator of the relationship between nature exposure and materialistic aspirations. To test these ideas, I conducted four studies with different types of nature exposure (e.g., short walks, photographs, or repeated daily nature exposures) and then assessed dependent measures. Walks in nature generally led to improvements in mood (Pilot Study, Study 1) and state nature relatedness (Pilot Study, Study 1, Study 3). However, viewing nature photographs and spending time in nature over multiple days were mostly ineffective at improving moods (Study 2 and 3). Viewing photographs did not change state nature relatedness (Study 2). Regardless of the type of nature exposure, environmental concern did not change in response to nature exposure (Study 2 and 3). Across the four studies, nature exposure did not decrease materialistic aspirations or increase intrinsic aspirations. This suggests that nature exposure, as manipulated in this dissertation, does not shift the perceived importance of specific aspirations in the moment or over a 12-day period. However, correlational evidence suggested that trait nature relatedness (and feeling high nature relatedness in the moment) was related to ii EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE lower materialistic aspirations and higher intrinsic aspirations (Pilot Study, Study 1 and Study 3). This supports the idea that increasing people’s connection to nature may be a potential strategy or intervention for decreasing materialistic aspirations. To examine this possibility, researchers may wish to use different types of nature exposure and further document which types of nature exposure lead to which specific benefits. Overall, these results highlight the need for future research to further examine how environmental and positive psychology can more reliably assess this relationship by using more immersive nature manipulations or a variety of nature manipulations. Keywords: nature, nature relatedness, mood, well-being, materialism, aspirations, environmental concern. iii EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE Acknowledgements I am immensely thankful for all the amazing people who have supported me while completing this degree. First, thank you to Dr. John Zelenski. I am grateful for your supervision and guidance over the past seven years. Thank you for not only making time to talk about research ideas, conferences, and publications but also for helping me decide on what classes to take and which research opportunities to pursue. Thank you for being open to hearing new ideas, while also asking your ‘jerky’ questions. The end seems to have come very quickly but I am looking forward to continuing research projects within the lab. For the Happy lab (Eve, Karin, Colin, and Deanna), thank you for always being a friendly face and willing to help when I had questions or interpretations that I wanted to share. Thank you to the Etelle Bourassa, June Callendar, and Jessica Whitney for directing me where I needed to be going and with a smile. Thank you to my committee members for helpful feedback and critiques. For Rob, thank you for your wonderful support, enthusiasm towards hearing my ideas, and for your patience and understanding while I was writing. Thank you for lifting my spirits and keeping me sane even when there were stressful deadlines approaching. Thank you to my immediate family (Mom, Dad, Carla, Avery, and Jax) and to both my sister-in-law and mother- in-law for the support and encouragement. A huge thank you to my friends from Saskatchewan and the Elphin Crew here (especially Kelly and Philip) for listening and providing advice. Thank you to my Grandpa Frank Aschenbrenner for always taking us grandchildren on nature walks and with you to check animals on the farm. Your passion and appreciation for the outdoors was an initial motivator to study the benefits of nature as my dissertation. Finally thank you to my cat, Tukey for keeping me company while I wrote in the early morning hours and late at night. iv EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x List of Appendices ......................................................................................................................... xi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview of Dissertation .................................................................................................... 1 Outline of Studies ............................................................................................................... 6 Materialism ......................................................................................................................... 7 The Trade-off between Goals ........................................................................................... 11 Development of Materialism ............................................................................................ 18 Interventions for Materialism ........................................................................................... 20 Materialism and Pro-environmental behaviours ............................................................... 21 Nature ................................................................................................................................ 23 Cognitive Benefits and the Reasonable Person Model ..................................................... 24 Subjective Well-being and Biophilia ................................................................................ 26 Social benefits of Nature ................................................................................................... 30 Nature Relatedness............................................................................................................ 34 Nature Relatedness and Well-being .................................................................................. 36 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 37 Pilot Study ..................................................................................................................................... 38 v EFFECTS OF NATURE EXPOSURE Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................ 39 Method .............................................................................................................................. 40 Participants ........................................................................................................................ 40 Materials ........................................................................................................................... 40 Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 44 Results ............................................................................................................................... 45 Pilot Study Discussion ...................................................................................................... 50 Study 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 54 Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................ 54 Method .............................................................................................................................. 55 Participants