Why Does Nature Immersion Positively Impact Well-Being? The Role of Organismic Valuing Process Activation
Date
2023-12-21
Authors
Francescangeli, Sabrina
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Abstract
Past research has overwhelmingly noted that nature immersion is related to a multitude of positive outcomes, including well-being. Yet, why nature is positively associated with well-being is less well-known. We hypothesized one explanation for this relationship could be that nature immersion activates the organismic valuing process (OVP), which, in turn, leads to greater well-being; specifically, we predicted that individuals in the most nature-immersive condition would report both the highest OVP activation and well-being. Participants were randomly assigned to walk a route at the University of Victoria (UVic) for five consecutive days in one of four possible conditions of nature immersion: inside a building, outside on campus, in a display garden, or on a nature trail. Participants took a post-walk survey at the end of each walk, measuring OVP activation, and a post-navigation survey at the end of the week measuring well-being. We found that nature immersion was significantly associated with eudaimonic well-being, but only when OVP activation mediated this relationship. Otherwise, the relationship between nature immersion and well-being was not significant. This study contributes to the sparse literature operationalizing OVP activation and nature as a continuum.
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nature immersion, well-being, self-determination theory, organismic valuing process, eudaimonic well-being