Research Design Connection: Viewing Nature and Cooperation

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | May 18th, 2015

Need another reason to include nature in upcoming projects? Zelenski, Dopko and Capaldi found that being exposed to nature increased cooperative behavior among participants in their studies. People participating in this project experienced nature via videos shown and not actually by being in nature. The nature exposure had another benefit: “Participants exposed to nature videos responded more cooperatively on a measure of social value orientation and indicated greater willingness to engage in environmentally sustainable behaviors.” John Zelenski, Raelyne Dopko, and Colin Capaldi. 2015. “Cooperation Is in Our Nature: Nature Exposure May Promote Cooperative and Environmentally Sustainable Behavior.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 42, pp. 24-31. Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers …