DEA 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Attention Restoration Theory, Biophilia Hypothesis, Environmental Psychology
27 Apr 2018
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Lecture April 20 Environmental Psychology
EARTH
HER PROCESS: RESTORATION
1. Nature as a therapeutic element
a. Nature as an escape
i. Most popular recreation in USA is gardening
2. Theory
a. Biophilia: “love of the biome”, evolutionary theory
i. Only nature is inherently therapeutic/restorative because it’s closest to the
setting we evolved in
ii. Study: infants’ preference for sound (measured by: where does the infant
look?)
1. Look at non-aversive sounds for a longer period of time than
aversive sounds
a. Aversive: industrial → dentist drill, mic feedback, etc.
b. Non-aversive: crickets, rain, water, birds in woods
2. Could these results be due to a hard-wired biophilia?
b. Attention Restoration Theory
i. Effortful, or voluntary attention → Pay attention—has a cost, takes effort
1. We have the ability to force ourselves to allocate our attention—
takes effort, brain power
2. Lots of environments that we spend time in force us to
concentrate
a. Has to do with crowding, nature of work, etc.
b. Problem → when we run out of that capacity to pay
attention
ii. There is a second kind of involuntary attention → curiosity, does not take
effort
1. Ex: looking at a campfire/fireplace does not take effort to pay
attention
2. What’s going on with nature is that it may support involuntary
attention, curiosity
3. Natural settings/qualities are therapeutic because they
restore the capacity for voluntary attention
a. Theory that we have a certain capacity to pay attention
iii. Nature may be restorative of voluntary attention because it is a change in
scenery (take a break, get away, escape)
c. Fascination, curiosity—some settings have certain qualities that just draw our
attention (still attention restoration theory)
i. Ex: fireplace
1. You do not have to force yourself to stare at a fire
ii. Place of contemplation, solitude, quiet
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