Green Psychology
Recipe for Kindness
Does exposure to nature make us more caring?
By Alisa Opar

Researchers matched the urban (top) and nature (bottom) images for color, complexity, layout, and lighting.

Want to be a better person? Connect with nature. Psychologist Richard Ryan and his colleagues at the University of Rochester have found that paying attention to the natural world makes people nicer.

The team compared the effect of natural and manmade environments, and discovered that nature can actually make people more caring. In three separate studies, researchers exposed subjects to images of either natural landscapes, such as desert canyons, or artificial settings, like freeways, and encouraged them to notice colors and texture and smells. Before-and-after questionnaires assessed the importance of life aspirations: wealth and fame (“to be financially successful” and “to be admired by many people”) and connectedness and community (“to have deep enduring relationships” and “to work toward the betterment of society”).

The surveys revealed that the more attention participants paid to natural elements, the more socially connected they felt. Conversely, the more they zeroed in on manmade elements, the more selfish their goals became. Ryan explains in this video.

Read related story: “Natural High”

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