It is often emphasized that climate crisis interventions aimed at changing individual behavior reduce (i.e., crowd-out) support for environmental regulations. Here, we complement existing research on crowding-out by not only considering how making individual measures salient may affect support for regulations, but also how making regulations salient affects support for individual measures. Across three studies (total N = 3,426), we found no evidence for a crowding-out of regulations. Instead, our results are more consistent with a crowding-out of individual measures: An individual measure aimed at reducing energy consumption received significantly less support when presented after versus before a regulation. When presented after regulations, the individual measure was also evaluated as less effective, less fair, and having fewer positive consequences. This order effect extended to choices between individual measures and regulations, with participants being less likely to choose individual measures when they had been introduced after versus before regulations. At least under some conditions, making environmental regulations salient may crowd-out support for individual measures.
This article presents the development and validation of Transition Pathway Scale (TPS) designed to measure different strategies for adapting to climate change. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, three strategies, referred to here as ‘transition pathways’, are proposed, ranging from the preservation of current lifestyles to their radical transformation, with an intermediate pathway involving only limited adjustment (i.e., acceptance, incrementalism, transformation). Building on the value–action gap framework, these pathways are conceptualized as distinct modes of regulating a tension between preserving the existing system to varying degrees (i.e., acceptance and incrementalism) and radically transforming it (i.e., transformation). Furthermore, the underlying structure of these pathways is examined through the lens of ideological processes, particularly those that tend to maintain the status quo. The aim of this scale was to overcome the limitations of scales that treat attitudes and behaviors as homogeneous constructs. In total, four samples (N = 1540) were used to construct (Sample A) and validate the scale (Samples B, C, and D). Factor analyses confirmed the three pathways with good fit indices after reducing the scale from 12 to 9 items. Our results show that transition pathways reflect distinct ideological orientations: acceptance aligns with motivations to preserve the status quo, primarily through adherence to norms and traditions; incrementalism corresponds to limited change that protects existing structures; and radicalism is hindered both by hierarchy-supporting beliefs and by adherence to norms and traditions, thereby highlighting how system-justifying ideologies shape individuals’ preferred responses to climate change. Finally, the limits are discussed, specifically on cross-cultural variations wich are not examined.
Place-based adaptation shows potential to safeguard well-being of communities facing climate change impacts. However, its implementation is complicated by conceptual ambiguity surrounding “place” and limited understanding of its role in adaptation. Broadly, adaptation efforts often result in maladaptation – when adaptation causes unintended negative consequences. Maladaptation often arises from differences in individual perception, mediated by worldview and institutions guiding knowledge and values, which complicates planning processes for interdependent social and ecological systems. This systematic literature review aims to elucidate the role of place and perception in effective adaptation planning by consolidating research linking perception with place relationships and social-ecological systems (SES). Peer-reviewed literature was retrieved through Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest. Screening of 835 unique publications resulted in a set of 163 articles that met predefined eligibility criteria. Database analysis revealed growing interest in the topic, spanning distinct journals, disciplines and authors. Articles predominantly found place relationships within SES were reciprocal and fostered resilience, regardless of landscape type. However, place was frequently undefined, planning featured only minorly, and data on perception could not be generalized. Addressing this ambiguity, thematic narrative analysis revealed place and perception are co-produced within SES. We argue that place is a biocultural adaptation which grounds knowledge and values in spatially-oriented ontologies, and drives transformation and resilience in SES. When planning and design strategies disrupt place relationships, maladaptation ensues. Our conclusions highlight how, to avoid maladaptation, the biocultural role of planning in place and SES must be understood. In this way, it may be possible to foster place relationships and truly plan for resilience.
Background This pragmatic randomized controlled study examined the effects of a 4-week nature walk (vs. urban walk) intervention on university students’ mental health, a population known to experience high rates of psychological symptoms. Method Using a parallel group design, university students were randomized to complete 2-3 weekly walks over 4 weeks in either an urban greenspace (nature condition) or city streets (urban condition). Assessments were completed online at pre-randomization/baseline, weekly (primary outcomes only), and post-intervention. The primary outcomes were positive and negative affect, with depressive and anxiety symptoms as secondary outcomes. Trial registration: NCT05889078. Mixed model analyses (adjusting for baseline measures) adhered to intent-to-treat principles. Results Ninety-three participants (47 in nature, 46 in urban) received the intervention. Participants were mostly female (87%; Mage=20.61 years; SD=1.94). Mixed model analyses revealed no effect of the nature walks on positive and negative affect, nor on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Post-hoc moderation analyses revealed greater reductions in depressive symptoms for the nature (vs urban) condition, but only in participants with higher baseline depressive symptoms (p for interaction=.04). To illustrate, for students with baseline symptoms in the moderately-severe-to-severe range, the mean difference in depressive symptoms at post-intervention was -3.86 (95% CI: -7.38 to -0.33), with a large effect size (d=0.85). Limitations The small sample size and higher number of female participants limit the generalizability of results. Conclusions Although this study did not provide evidence that nature walks improve mental health for all university students, benefits were observed for reducing depressive symptoms for those with higher baseline symptoms.
Biophilic design has a robust theoretical base, yet evidence is limited on functional differentiation between direct and indirect nature exposure, attentional pathways, and measurement objectivity. This study presents a between-subjects immersive virtual reality experiment with design-trained students (n=80), comparing architectural integration of direct nature with indirect proxies, specifically green color and wood material, using 3D eye tracking and multimodal biometrics. Results revealed a selective physiological divergence: green color supported tonic electrodermal recovery whereas only direct biophilic content significantly accelerated acute phasic recovery and stabilized parasympathetic modulation. These effects were most consistently captured by electrodermal and pulse-derived parasympathetic measures. Far-peripheral visibility was associated with recovery oriented electrodermal change during non-fixated viewing, consistent with an ambient processing pathway. Subjective appraisals diverged from physiology, with green color rated as most calming despite limited acute recovery. Findings suggest that, in design-trained students, wide field visibility of living elements, rather than proxy cues alone, may contribute to short term autonomic down regulation in immersive architectural experience.
While novel food technologies are important for sustainable food system transitions, their introduction is often met with resistance and low acceptance rooted in culturally embedded beliefs about naturalness, safety, and foodways. The present research examined multicultural experience as a factor shaping both avoidance and approach responses toward novel food technologies, operating through lower need for cognitive closure and greater openness to experience. Two studies with American participants tested these hypotheses. Study 1 (cross-sectional; N = 395) revealed that multicultural experience was associated with lower need for cognitive closure and higher openness to experience, which, in turn, predicted lower food technology neophobia and greater acceptance of novel food technologies, respectively. Study 2 (experimental; N = 324) manipulated the mental accessibility of multicultural experience to examine causality. Results showed that recalling multicultural experience increased openness to experience, which, in turn, predicted greater acceptance of novel food technologies. Recalling multicultural experience also reduced food technology neophobia but did not significantly affect the need for cognitive closure, suggesting that reductions in food technology neophobia may occur through mechanisms beyond short-term changes in the need for cognitive closure. These findings highlight multicultural experience as a psychological lever for facilitating adaptation to green technological innovation.
Preschool children with physical mobility impairments as a form of disabilities (PMIOD) may face concurrent challenges in perceptual behavior, spatial participation, and emotional responses in home and everyday environments. This study conducted a scoping review. Search terms and eligibility criteria were developed based on the Population–Concept–Context framework, and the review was reported following PRISMA-ScR. Searches were conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and APA PsycINFO/APA PsycArticles for articles and reviews published between January 2015 and May 2026. A total of 1871 records were identified. After deduplication, 1589 titles and abstracts were screened, 654 full texts were assessed, and 176 studies were finally included. The findings showed that mobility limitations in PMIOD children were associated with reduced spatial exploration, difficulties in mobility, obstacle avoidance, and environmental understanding, restricted play participation, and limited action autonomy. Spatial accessibility, path continuity, assistive device fit, caregiver support, and sensory environments were jointly associated with children's modes of participation and emotional experiences. Existing studies mainly used questionnaires, proxy reports, interviews, behavioral observation, video coding, sensors, and assistive technologies to assess related behavioral and emotional expressions. However, the standardization of these methods, their age appropriateness, and evidence from real home spaces remain limited. Overall, the perceptual behaviors and emotional responses of PMIOD children were jointly related to physical ability, spatial conditions, assistive devices, and caregiving relationships. Future research should further differentiate age and mobility ability differences and translate home space factors, including paths, furniture, assistive devices, and sensory environments, into measurable and comparable analytical variables.
Mindfulness is crucial for the human-nature relationship. It increases nature connectedness, well-being, and pro-environmental behaviour, especially when mindful awareness is experienced in nature. To investigate how mindful engagement in nature can strengthen human and planetary well-being, research needs to focus on this specific intersection, using appropriate tools. This paper presents the fully pre-registered development and validation of a new self-report survey scale that assesses nature-specific mindfulness. An item pool of 74 items was created through a systematic literature review and the first round of a mixed-method expert Delphi study. In rounds two and three of the Delphi study, the item pool was reduced to 47 items based on content validity. After two pre-tests, the 47 items were administered, reduced, and evaluated using data from two online surveys presented to the same sample one month apart (Nt1 = 350, Nt2 = 306). The resulting 15-item mindful engagement in nature scale (MEINS) showed high internal and test-retest reliability, as well as discriminant validity to nature connectedness and general mindfulness. The MEINS was correlated with nature connectedness, mindfulness, well-being, and time spent in nature. Three sub-facets emerged during development: “Mind & Body in Nature”, “Noticing Nature”, and “Interbeing with Nature”. High factor correlations and an EFA and CFA with data from a different sample (N = 447), however, suggest unidimensionality. Results and theoretical underpinnings support the MEINS as an appropriate tool to deepen scientific understanding of the interconnections between nature and mindfulness.
Understanding people's environmental behaviors is essential to combating climate change. However, certain behaviors are harder for some people while being easier for others. As such, it is essential to identify the difficulty level of various behaviors for better targeting policies and interventions. Therefore, the objective of this study is to first determine the difficulty of environmental behaviors with consideration given to their GHG reduction and, second, to identify the difficulty of such behaviors across different segments of the population, focusing on the difficulty of transportation-related behaviors. A large-scale survey was conducted, and the Rasch model was used for modeling. The results suggested that low-impact and medium-impact behaviors were much easier for Canadians to adopt than high-impact behaviors. Transportation-related behaviors were generally among the hardest actions for the population. Among these, using a plug-in hybrid car was the simplest, while living vehicle-free was the most difficult.
How multiple dimensions of viewpoint-specific spatial structure relate directionally to recurrent visual behavior in heritage settings remains insufficiently specified at the level of matched scenes. This paper examines this relationship in Jichang Garden, China, by combining immersive eye-tracking with viewpoint-matched spatial features derived from three-dimensional visibility analysis. Gaze data from 51 participants across 22 useable viewpoints were used to identify four recurrent visual behavior patterns, exploratory scanning, hotspot attention, near-far alternation, and route-oriented attention, together with three broader exploration strategies. These behavioral patterns were then related to viewpoint-level spatial features, including openness, depth, complexity, orientation, viewpoint geometry, and scene composition. In the mixed-effects models, higher complexity was associated with more exploratory scanning and less hotspot attention, whereas greater openness was independently associated with less exploratory scanning. Viewpoint geometry showed differentiated behavioral profiles: greater upward visibility was associated with more exploratory scanning but less hotspot attention and near-far alternation, whereas greater eye-level visibility was associated with less route-oriented attention. Greater vegetation visibility was associated with more exploratory scanning, while greater water visibility was associated with more route-oriented attention. Random Forest diagnostics indicated moderate predictive performance and range-dependent relationships, particularly for openness. Brief post-session debriefs provided additional context for selected scenes in which specific focal elements, including a particular tree, koi, and inscriptions, were not represented as separate predictors in the spatial models. Overall, the study provides case-based, scene-level evidence from one heritage setting on how viewpoint-matched spatial features relate to recurrent visual behavior and where additional interpretive context remains useful.
Work environments play a crucial role in shaping employees’ health and well-being, as workers spend most of their time indoors. In recent years, increasing attention has been devoted to restorative workplace environments, particularly those integrating natural elements and biophilic design; however, existing evidence remains fragmented across theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and measurement strategies. This systematic review maps how restorativeness is conceptualized and investigated in workplace settings, focusing on theoretical grounding, types of restorative exposures, study designs, outcome measures, and methodological gaps. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science using a PICOS-based strategy. Thirty-three empirical studies conducted in occupational contexts were included. Data were extracted on study characteristics, theoretical frameworks, intervention types, outcomes, and methodological quality. Results show a strong reliance on Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Recovery Theory, with most studies examining short-term affective, cognitive, and performance-related outcomes. Real indoor nature and outdoor exposures were the most frequently investigated interventions. Despite a generally moderate-to-high methodological quality, validated measures of perceived restorativeness were rarely employed, suggesting that restorative qualities are often assumed rather than empirically verified. Moreover, most samples consisted of white-collar workers, highlighting the need for research in more diverse work environments, such as industrial settings. Overall, the findings underscore the need for greater theoretical coherence and consistent use of validated measurement tools. Framing the physical work environment as an active organizational resource within the Environmental Demands–Resources framework may support more rigorous research and evidence-based workplace design and organizational practices.
With climate change, people increasingly experience extreme weather events. This requires ambitious adaptation on individual and collective levels. At the same time, right-wing populism is on the rise. This may come with climate change skepticism that may also affect flood and climate change risk perceptions. Using longitudinal data from the German Green-SOEP panel (n = 2,744), we assessed how flood and climate risk perceptions, as well as perceptions of the importance of protection from climate change changed between 2020 and 2022, and how this change linked to the experience of a severe flood in 2021 and to political orientation. Personal and general flood risk perceptions increased, but not for people who identified with the climate-skeptical party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) in 2022. Personal flood risk perceptions, but not general flood risk perceptions, increased more for people who experienced the 2021 flood than for those who did not. This pattern did not extend to climate risk perceptions and the perceived importance of protection from climate change, which did not increase, not even among those who experienced the 2021 flood. For those who identified with the AfD in 2022, they even decreased. Future research, as well as climate risk communications and climate change adaptation efforts, need to address these dynamics of change in responses to floods and possibly extreme weather events across different population subgroups.
Achieving large-scale behavioral change and public support for ambitious climate policies are crucial components to the mitigation of climate change. Effective public communication strategies can help attain this goal. In a meta-analysis of experimental studies (71 publications, 481 effect sizes, n = 216’033) using mostly single-message exposure, we show that climate change communication strategies have a small positive effect of Hedges’ g = 0.13, 95% CI [0.07, 0.18]. All but responsibility-focused strategies consistently increased climate-relevant intentions, behaviors, and policy support. Strategies promoting stronger emotional engagement, such as using storytelling or inducing awe related to the beauty of nature, appeared more effective than strategies merely communicating scientific evidence and facts. Moreover, using images as opposed to text increased the effectiveness of communication strategies, while studies adopting Open Science standards found somewhat smaller, more conservative, effects. Our findings provide robust evidence that most climate change communication strategies can be important instruments for shaping climate-relevant behaviors and policy support, especially when widely and repeatedly deployed.
Public agencies responsible for conservation, parks, and recreation (CPR) increasingly rely on voter-approved ballot measures to secure funding for greenspace acquisition and preservation. These campaigns are vulnerable to misinformation, yet few studies have examined how to protect voters from false claims in this context. Drawing on inoculation theory, this experimental study tested whether proactive inoculation messages can buffer voters against misinformation targeting a real CPR-focused ballot measure, the 2022 King County, Washington Proposition No. 1 Conservation Futures Levy. A mixed-design survey experiment (N = 400) randomly assigned registered voters to one of four conditions: misinformation only, general inoculation, detailed inoculation, or combined inoculation. Outcome measures included perceived fairness of the referendum, perceived tax increase, word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions, change in voting decision, and susceptibility to misinformation. Detailed inoculation and combined inoculation significantly preserved perceived fairness and reduced perceived tax burden following misinformation exposure, whereas general inoculation alone did not produce significant protective effects. Participants receiving detailed inoculation, alone or combined with a general inoculation message, were significantly less likely to perceive the misinformation as believable, reliable, trustworthy, and accurate than those exposed to misinformation alone. No significant condition differences were observed for WOM intentions or voting decision change. These findings suggest that inoculation messages containing specific refutations of misinformation are more effective than general forewarnings alone in the CPR ballot-measure context. This study extends inoculation theory to voting and direct-democracy settings and offers practical guidance for public-sector CPR providers seeking to proactively protect voters from campaign misinformation.
Exposure to nature is widely considered to alter acute stress. Most research has focused on nature’s ability to facilitate stress recovery, while little is known about its effects on initial reactivity to a stressor and associated emotion regulation strategies. Guided by Nature-Based Biopsychosocial Resilience Theory, we investigated whether brief virtual nature exposure influences both stress reactivity and recovery, as well as stressor-specific appraisal and rumination. In a randomized controlled study, 164 healthy adults watched brief, two-dimensional virtual nature or indoor scenes either before or after an acute laboratory stress task. We repeatedly measured self-reported stress, salivary cortisol, heart rate, and heart rate variability to assess stress reactivity and recovery, alongside stressor-specific appraisal and rumination, and collected retrospective ratings of the environments’ perceived restorativeness and helpfulness in dealing with the stressor. Participants retrospectively rated nature videos as more restorative and helpful in managing and recovering from the stressor than indoor videos (moderate-to-large effects). In contrast, none of the registered hypotheses about the positive effects of nature videos on immediate overall stress responses, stress reactivity, stress recovery, appraisal, or rumination were significant. However, equivalence tests indicated that small-to-moderate effects cannot be ruled out. The results highlight a potential disconnect between participants’ retrospective perceptions of nature’s capacity to help cope with a stressor and their immediate psychological and physiological reactions. Although virtual nature may represent an easily implementable intervention, our findings encourage a critical reflection and calibration of expectations regarding the effectiveness of brief simulated nature exposures for reducing acute stress.
