Why can contact with nature be psychologically restorative? For more than four decades, research on nature's restorative effects has sought to answer this question through two influential theoretical frameworks: Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Reduction Theory (SRT). These theories have been central in shaping the field, yet they have also attracted criticism. Although their limitations may appear resolvable through theoretical refinement or additional empirical work, we adopt a meta-theoretical perspective and argue that ART and SRT fall short of basic standards of theory construction. First, key constructs thought to predict restorative experiences are often vague, circular, or insufficiently specified. Second, both theories exhibit explanatory fragility: ART's resource-based account does not clarify how attentional depletion and recovery are meant to operate, whereas SRT's evolutionary explanation relies on adaptationist claims whose added explanatory value remains unclear. Third, the weak specification of their predictors and mechanisms makes both theories conceptually elastic and at risk of being insulated from disconfirmation. We conclude by calling for greater epistemic restraint when constructing explanatory frameworks in this research domain.

For more than four decades, research on restorative environments has been guided by two influential theoretical frameworks: Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Reduction Theory (SRT). While these theories have been instrumental in shaping the field, they have also faced criticism. Although it might appear that the limitations of both theories could be resolved through adjustments and further research, we adopt a meta-theoretical perspective to assess ART and SRT against general standards of theory construction. We argue that neither framework meets core standards for predictive utility or explanatory power. We focus on two issues. On the one hand, critical constructs assumed to predict restorative nature experiences are often vague, circular (e.g., “soft fascination”) or underdetermined in terms of their level of specificity. On the other hand, both theories exhibit explanatory fragility: ART’s resource-based account of restoration does not clarify how depletion and replenishment actually occur, whereas SRT’s evolutionary explanation posits what appears to be an unnecessary and unfalsifiable adaptive mechanism. We conclude by challenging the assumption that the psychologically beneficial effects of nature are in some way “special” and instead advocate for greater epistemic restraint in building nature-specific theories around beneficial nature effects.

It has been suggested that increasing urbanization is gradually reducing opportunities for people to experience nature in their everyday lives. According to the Extinction of Experience (EoE) framework, this decline can trigger a vicious cycle: as opportunities for nature experience diminish, people may become increasingly disconnected from nature and less motivated to protect what remains-further reducing nature availability and reinforcing this vicious cycle. Despite its intuitive appeal, the EoE has largely remained a verbal theory, investigated primarily through cross-sectional studies that examine isolated relationships between its core components-nature availability, nature experience and connectedness to nature-at a single point in time. As a result, the dynamic properties of the EoE, such as feedback loops and tipping point dynamics, have not been formally tested or modelled. In this study, we seek to address this gap by using agent-based modelling (ABM) to simulate the emergence of the EoE over time. Our model centres on the interplay between nature availability, nature experience and connectedness to nature, and is parameterized using existing cross-sectional data. Through simulation, we explore how varying levels of greenspace availability influence system behaviour. Our analyses show that when greenspace coverage falls below 23 % in our ABM, a self-reinforcing feedback loop emerges, consistently leading to the EoE. Conversely, when greenspace exceeds 25 %, this vicious cycle is mitigated-or even reversed-into a virtuous cycle, where nature experience and connectedness to nature reinforce one another over time. Although exact thresholds vary depending on parameter values, the model robustly demonstrates the potential for tipping point dynamics: small reductions in greenspace can result in disproportionate, non-linear shifts toward a full EoE.

The biophilia hypothesis has been influential in explaining humans' attraction to nature. Here, we critically evaluate recent research on biophilia, focusing on automatic and instinct-like responses to nature. We explore how biophilia-based interventions may contribute to inequality and propose cultural evolution as a parsimonious alternative to biophilia.

In two online studies, we tested the “nature-as-reward hypothesis”, which suggests that superior cognitive task performance following nature exposure reflects a general performance improvement, driven by the reward value of beautiful things. In both between-subjects experiments, participants viewed either beautiful or less beautiful images for 10 s, comprising beautiful mountain photos (vs. less beautiful mountain drawings) in Study 1 and beautiful fractals (vs. less beautiful pixelated images) in Study 2. Following image exposure, participants engaged in a ticking task requiring them to freely tick up to 200 boxes. Participants had to complete four (Study 1) or five (Study 2) of such ticking tasks, with each task being preceded by either a beautiful or less beautiful image. In Study 1, for a subset of participants the ticking task was framed as a game. We found that in Study 1, ticking declined over the ticking rounds when participants had viewed less beautiful line drawings of mountains, while ticking performance remained unchanged over the rounds after seeing beautiful mountain images. However, when the ticking task was framed as a game, there was no significant difference in ticking performance between the two beauty conditions over the four ticking rounds. In Study 2, participants ticked more boxes over all ticking rounds after viewing images of beautiful fractals compared to less beautiful pixelated images. In line with the nature-as-reward hypothesis, these findings show that brief exposures to beautiful (nature) images can motivate to work and that framing tasks as a game can attenuate this beauty advantage.

In three studies, we examine the effect of music album artwork on album market performance and music consumption. Based on the perceptual preference for visual stimuli with cardinal (orthogonal) over oblique (tilted) line/edge orientations (a phenomenon known as the "oblique effect"), albums with a predominance of cardinal line/edge orientations in their artwork should perform better than albums with more oblique artwork, as indicated by the albums' market performance and consumers' listening behavior. Study 1, using secondary data, shows that the cardinality of album artwork is a positive predictor of the cover's esthetic appeal and of market performance as evinced by its position in the US charts, expert ratings of the album, and the number of weeks the album remained in the US charts. Studies 2 and 3 use experiments to show that consumers listen longer to music when album artwork is relatively more cardinal than oblique. These studies also explore whether the effect is mediated by higher esthetic appreciation of cardinal (vs. oblique) album artwork in turn affecting song liking. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of visual preferences in packaging design for music consumption.

Exposure to nature can enhance mental well-being, making nature-based interventions promising for the treatment and prevention of mental health problems like depression. Given the decreased self-focus and sense of self-diminishment associated with awe, the present study investigated the impact of exposure to awe-evoking nature on two key risk and maintenance factors of depression-repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and dampening of positive feelings-and on subjective happiness. In a randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of exposure to awe-evoking nature clips through a 1-week intervention, consisting of watching a 1-min clip on a daily basis of either awe-evoking (n high awe = 108) or more mundane nature scenes (n low awe = 105). Before, immediately after (post-intervention) and 1 week after the intervention (follow-up), participants completed self-report scales probing RNT, dampening, and subjective happiness. Results indicated significant decreases in these outcomes at post-intervention and follow-up in both groups. We discuss study limitations, touch upon future research ideas, and reflect upon the role of nature for clinical applications.

The role of nature in promoting both affective and cognitive benefits has been extensively studied in the field of environmental psychology. Two well-established theories, Stress Recovery Theory (SRT) and Attention Restoration Theory (ART), are commonly used to explain these restorative benefits. However, despite their popularity, both theories face important challenges. To address these challenges, in the current paper, we propose an alternative goal-directed account of restorative nature experiences. In our account, we consider individuals as goal-directed agents and argue that the to-be-restored states that are central to SRT and ART – stress and negative affect (in SRT) and declines in cognitive performance (in ART) – can be interpreted as discrepancies between an individual’s goals and their current situation, instead of drained affective and/or cognitive resources. We propose that affective (see SRT) and cognitive nature benefits (see ART) both arise from a process of discrepancy reduction, where nature helps individuals to reduce discrepancies between their current situation and their goals. Nature can facilitate this discrepancy reduction process through three pathways: (a) by modifying goals, (b) by modifying interpretations of the situation, or (c) by affording actions that can fulfill thwarted goals. We compare our account to SRT and ART, highlighting similarities and differences between our proposal and the two theories, and illustrate how it can guide empirical studies and real-life interventions.

The rise of AI-based chatbots has gradually changed the way consumers shop. Natural language processing (NLP) technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to accelerate this trend further. However, consumers still prefer to engage with humans and resist chatbots, which are often perceived as impersonal and lacking the human touch. While the predominant tendency is to make chatbots appear more humanlike, little is known about how anthropomorphic verbal design cues in chatbots influence perceived product personalization and willingness to pay a higher product price in conversational commerce contexts. In the current work, we set out to test this through one pre-test (N = 135) and two online experiments (N = 180 and 237). We find that anthropomorphism significantly and positively affects perceived product personalization, and that this effect is moderated by situational loneliness. Moreover, the results show that the interaction between anthropomorphism and situational loneliness has an impact on the willingness to pay a higher product price. The research findings can be used for future applications of AI-driven chatbots where there is a need to provide personalized and data-driven product recommendations.

Ample research shows that spending time in natural (vs. urban) environments, or merely watching nature scenes, can seemingly replenish depleted cognitive resources and thereby improve cognitive functioning. While such findings are traditionally explained by referring to Attention Restoration Theory (ART), in the present research, we outline and test a potential alternative explanation for nature-related performance benefits. Our account centers on the notion that the aesthetically pleasing character of nature scenes simply fosters individuals' willingness to work, including working on the cognitive tasks used in attention restoration research. After outlining our theoretical proposal, we report the results of a preregistered showcase study in which we asked participants (N = 219) to watch a slideshow of fifteen photos of natural scenes/elements. The beauty of the slideshow images was manipulated by presenting either aesthetically attractive nature images (beautiful nature condition) or nature images where the aesthetic qualities had been removed through pixilation (pixelated nature condition). We subsequently tested the effect of this manipulation on participants' performance on a simple and mindless "clicking task ", consisting of freely clicking radio buttons. We also varied the number of clicking tasks participants had to perform (between-subjects); while all participants had to click buttons after the nature slideshow, a subset of them also had to do the clicking task before watching the slideshow images. Results show that participants who only had to do the clicking task once (i.e., after the slideshow) and who had watched beautiful nature, clicked more buttons, and reported to feel more motivated to click buttons compared to participants who had watched relatively unappealing pixelated nature images. This general nature-related performance enhancement could account for the general pattern of positive nature effects on cognitive tasks without requiring ART's additional assumptions of resource replenishment and resource specificity.

The evidence base connecting planetary and human health is growing, but thus far the research community has primarily focused on the physical health implications. This Voices asks: how does environmental degradation affect mental health, and what are the emerging needs and research priorities?

•We collected indicators of US state-level recreational nature engagement.•We collected indicators of US state-level prosociality (e.g., volunteering, empathy) and antisociality (e.g., violent crime).•State-level recreational nature engagement is a positive predictor of prosociality and – to a lesser degree – a negative predictor of antisociality.•A multiverse analysis shows that these results are robust across analytical choices.

Purpose: This article explores how anthropomorphized service robots shape consumer risk perceptions and risk behavior via uncanniness as a function of individual differences in banking. Methodology: An online between-subjects experiment (N = 293), set in a fictitious bank, featuring four levels of service robot anthropomorphism (low, medium, high, human), measured risk perceptions (psychological, functional, privacy, time), and risk behavior as DVs, uncanniness as mediator, technology readiness, and behavioral inhibition as moderators. Findings: Risk perceptions are the lowest for medium (vs. high) anthropomorphism and are mediated by uncanniness. Risk behavior remains unaffected by the manipulation. Technology readiness overall attenuates the main effect on time risk perception but amplifies it for high anthropomorphism, whereas high behavioral inhibition increases risk behavior under the exposure of low anthropomorphism. Implication: Banks who plan to place robots in service functions should be mostly concerned about experiential rather than behavioral consequences and are advised to use medium anthropomorphism robots since they appear to qualify as viable substitutes for human bank tellers. Value: We contribute to the service robot and anthropomorphism literature by (1) distinguishing between dimensions of risk perceptions, (2) measuring actual risk behavior, and (3) setting our study in a business and marketing relevant context: banking

In the present work we extend research into the unit bias effect and its extension—the portion size effect—by demonstrating the existence of a “Gestalt bias.” Drawing on the tenets of Gestalt psychology, we show that a unit bias effect can be observed for food portions that are composed of identical basic units, but which are subjectively grouped into, or perceived as a Gestalt—a larger whole. In three studies, we find that such subjectively constructed food wholes constitute a new (perceptual) unit that is perceived bigger than the units it is constructed from, thereby prompting increased eating and desire to eat.

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

Materialism – the ideation and overemphasis of physical possessions, status and image values – is highly prevalent in present-day societies, and is associated with numerous psychological and societal costs. In three studies, we tested whether exposure to nature versus urban environments would be associated with decreased materialism. In Study 1, using consumer data from The United States, we found that a higher state-level prevalence of nature – as measured by the availability of natural amenities (a proxy for the presence of beautiful nature) and percentage of land dedicated to wilderness and forest – was associated with reduced materialism. In Study 2, we found that participants whose attention was directed towards a natural element of their environment – a grove of trees – attached less importance to materialistic values than individuals whose attention was directed towards an urban element – a building. In Study 3, we conceptually replicated this finding: after seeing videos of a forest walk or of grand natural scenes (e.g., soaring mountain peaks), participants became less interested in wealth, status, and image values relative to participants who viewed a video of an urban walk – an effect that was mediated by the activation of altruistic values. These findings testify to the role nature contact can play in devaluating materialism, and in combatting materialism’s negative effects on people and planet.

In the present research, we propose and test the notion that nature, through its aesthetically rewarding qualities, can increase work motivation. In a preregistered study, we asked participants (N = 219) to watch a slideshow of either aesthetically rewarding (high reward condition) or relatively unrewarding nature scenes/elements (low reward condition), while also varying pre-slideshow workload (high vs. low workload). Following the slideshow, all participants had to perform a mindless routine task, i.e., clicking radio buttons. We found that under a low (vs. high) workload, participants who had watched aesthetically rewarding nature clicked more buttons, and reported to feel more motivated to click buttons compared to participants who had watched unrewarding nature. These findings testify to the motivational potential of aesthetically rewarding nature, and raise the possibility that cognitive nature benefits observed in restoration studies are not solely indicative of resource replenishment, but might also reflect increases in work motivation.

Materialism, or the ideation and pursuit of physical possessions, is a near human universal that has been associated with numerous psychological and societal costs. We tested whether exposure to grand nature – vast natural environments that can make individuals feel relatively small – would be associated with reductions in materialism. In Study 1, using consumer data from all US states, we found that state-level prevalence of grand nature (i.e., natural amenities) was negatively associated with indicators of materialism (e.g., average diamond size, consumer spending on clothing). In Studies 2 and 3, we sought to explore the underlying process(es) for this association. Participants who viewed videos and photos of grand nature (versus mundane or funny nature) reported feeling self-diminished, which in turn translated into a decrease in materialistic values. Independent of this self-diminishing effect, however, we found that grand nature directly lowered materialism among viewers familiar with grand nature. We conclude that grand natural settings can attenuate materialism via two, independent routes. First, grand nature triggers a relative diminishment of the individual self and its interests. Second, grand nature can prime self-transcendent values among viewers familiar with that nature, thereby decreasing the importance of materialism.