Journal of Environmental Psychology最新文献

{"title":"Warm glow and pro-environmental behavior: Supportive evidence from behavioral tasks","authors":"Linli Zhou,&nbsp;Cameron Brick,&nbsp;Maien S.M. Sachisthal,&nbsp;Alaa Aldoh,&nbsp;Disa Sauter","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102902","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102902","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change is a highly emotional issue. For example, many people experience negative emotions like climate anxiety and eco-depression. Recent work emphasizes that positive emotions also influence how individuals engage with sustainability and pro-environmental behavior. Behaving in an environmentally friendly way may elicit positive feelings (<em>warm glow</em>), which could drive a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop of great applied value. However, previous research has largely been limited to self-reported pro-environmental behavior, which can have low validity. Here, we investigated the relationship between warm glow and pro-environmental behavior using two consequential behavioral tasks. In Study 1 (<em>n</em> = 237), participants who made more pro-environmental decisions in the Carbon Emission Task experienced more warm glow. Pre-registered Studies 2a (<em>n</em> = 803), 2b (<em>n</em> = 953), and 3 (<em>n</em> = 849) used the tedious Work for Environmental Protection Task for a more severe test. Results again showed more warm glow after more pro-environmental behavior. In addition, anticipated warm glow before the task predicted pro-environmental behavior, and behavioral effort mediated the relationship between anticipated and experienced warm glow. Together, these results provide a strong demonstration that warm glow and pro-environmental behavior are mutually reinforcing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102902"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What makes a meaningful place? Evaluating Christopher Alexander's framework of natural order against essentialist and anti-essentialist qualities of urban spaces","authors":"Maria Lewicka ,&nbsp;Alex Lubiński ,&nbsp;Mateusz Strzałkowski ,&nbsp;Bartłomiej Iwańczak","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102952","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102952","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The question of what makes a place meaningful has been explored by numerous scholars. In this paper, we examine two theories that propose measurable criteria for evaluating urban spaces: Christopher Alexander's theory of natural order and Maria Lewicka's theory of place essentialism versus anti-essentialism. The latter framework is grounded in the contrast between two major approaches to the meaning of place: the phenomenological and the constructivist. This paper presents findings that enable a comparison of the criteria of natural order with the essentialist and anti-essentialist features of places.</div><div>A set of more than 50 photographs representing diverse urban spaces with scores on 20 dimensions reflecting essentialist versus anti-essentialist features, was evaluated on 15 criteria of natural order, alongside measures of liking and emotional arousal. The multidimensional scaling of the 15 principles of natural order obtained in this study diverged from the hypothetical relationships among the principles as proposed by Alexander. The comparison with essentialist versus anti-essentialist place meanings revealed that some principles of natural order were closely aligned with essentialist features (e.g., <em>Simplicity and Inner Calm</em>, <em>Good Shape</em>), while others (e.g., <em>Strong Centers</em>) corresponded more strongly with anti-essentialist features.</div><div>An exploratory factor analysis of the principles of natural order revealed four factors, tentatively labeled <em>Harmony</em>, <em>Structure</em>, <em>Roughness</em>, and <em>Boundaries</em>. <em>Life</em>, as the overarching criterion of place perception, was significantly predicted by the first three factors. <em>Liking</em> of a place was predicted by <em>Harmony</em>, <em>Structure</em>, and <em>Boundaries</em>. <em>Relaxation</em> was more strongly associated with <em>Harmony</em> than with <em>Structure</em>, whereas the opposite was true for <em>Excitement</em>. The combined properties yielded three clusters, of which the most liked and most full of <em>Life</em> was the cluster composed of historical and well-maintained urban spaces, while the least liked and most lifeless was the cluster consisting of old, neglected, and chaotic urban spaces.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102952"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Underwater virtual reality and situated cognition: Comparing ground, docked, and floating conditions for ocean connectedness and psychological wellbeing","authors":"Monique Santoso ,&nbsp;Gustav Bøg Petersen ,&nbsp;Jeremy N. Bailenson ,&nbsp;Géraldine Fauville","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102950","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102950","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Experiencing blue spaces enhances nature connectedness and promotes wellbeing, yet ocean environments remain largely inaccessible to most people. Traditional virtual reality (VR) approaches create embodied experiences, but for marine environments, the absence of water creates misalignment between sensory cues, potentially limiting embodied engagement which is crucial for environmental connectedness and psychological wellbeing. This study examined whether underwater VR (UVR), fully immersive experiences in physical water while experiencing virtual reality ocean content, can create situated ocean experiences that enhance psychological wellbeing and ocean connectedness compared to traditional ground VR. Using a situated cognition framework, we tested three conditions representing graduated levels of situatedness: ground (not situated in water), docked (situated in water with at least one hand in contact with ground), and floating (situated in water without contact with the ground). 94 participants were randomly assigned across conditions and experienced identical 10-min experiences of virtual ocean content. Participants in the floating condition showed significantly higher ocean connectedness, positive affect and vection, compared to both ground and docked conditions. Both water conditions showed increased restorativeness and vitality compared to the ground condition. While underwater VR increased ocean connectedness, no effects on more general nature connectedness were found. These findings indicate potential applications of UVR for marine environmental education and for stimulating future research examining how immersive experiences might influence ocean connectedness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102950"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How lived experiences of disaster displacement reshape place attachment","authors":"A. Mortimer ,&nbsp;K. Davies ,&nbsp;G. Smith ,&nbsp;I. Ahmed","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102915","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102915","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As climate change continues to drive disaster displacement occurrences, there is a critical need to explore how these experiences impact people's attachment to place. The following research addresses this gap by examining how the Northern Rivers floods in 2022 affected displaced people's bonds to their place, homes and communities. Drawing on the lived experiences of flood victims, the findings indicate that the disaster altered people's bonds to the homes they live in or formally lived. This disrupted attachment to place, consequently leading to people experiencing weakened connection to once-significant places, was found to primarily stem from people's safety concerns, fear of future disasters, and ongoing trauma. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on place attachment and climate-induced disasters, emphasising the need for further research to understand how disaster experiences can alter these bonds to place. Additionally, such insights are paramount to further inform disaster recovery strategies and thus the improved support of displaced populations in the current context of escalating climate crises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102915"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146023431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A thematic synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of everyday wayfinding","authors":"Victoria Goldenberg ,&nbsp;Jan Wiener ,&nbsp;Chantel Cox ,&nbsp;Doug Hardman","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102928","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102928","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Wayfinding is an important everyday activity, which can be conceived as a dynamic process of spatial problem solving. Existing research has significantly increased our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of wayfinding but has necessarily minimised the importance of ecological factors. Therefore, in this study we conducted a thematic synthesis of 54 articles, investigating an important yet minimised factor: the experiences and perceptions of wayfinding in everyday settings. Our findings suggest that people's experiences and perceptions are an integral part of everyday wayfinding, which manifests most explicitly in how landmarks are selected and utilised, how individuals' wayfinding experiences and strategies are idiosyncratic, and how wayfinding can be conceived as a dynamic, collective and socially-situated activity. These findings, we suggest, can act as a catalyst for an expansion of wayfinding research towards more ecologically sound approaches with diverse methodologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102928"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Psychological toll of a marine environmental crisis","authors":"B. Le Busque ,&nbsp;L.J. Falkenberg ,&nbsp;C. Williams ,&nbsp;C. Litchfield","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102964","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102964","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Eco-anxiety is often associated with acute environmental crises, yet its manifestation during marine ecological events remains underexplored. This study examined psychological responses to a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) in South Australia (2025) among residents (N = 628). Quantitative findings present a cross-sectional snapshot illustrating that the HAB coincided with marked psychological distress, with over 60% of participants reporting rumination (69%) and feelings of personal inefficacy (63%) on several days in the two weeks prior to completing the survey, while 54% experienced affective symptoms and 20% reported behavioural disruptions over the same period. Eco-anxiety subscales correlated positively with ocean visitation frequency (rs = .102–.266, p ≤ .028), and women scored higher than men across all subscales (p ≤ .028). Qualitative data revealed themes of ocean disconnection and wellbeing impacts, suggesting that marine environmental crises can affect mental health and disrupt human–nature relationships. Understanding these impacts is critical for fostering resilience and informing adaptation strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102964"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Natural dynamics without nature? Effects of motion type in light patterns on stress recovery","authors":"Özge Karaman-Madan ,&nbsp;Kynthia Chamilothori ,&nbsp;Iza K. Linders ,&nbsp;Mariëlle P.J. Aarts ,&nbsp;Yvonne A.W. de Kort","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102943","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102943","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While nature's restorative effects on humans are well established, the role of its temporal dynamics remains underexplored. This study investigates whether the type of motion (natural vs. non-natural) influences stress recovery, using projected light patterns on a wall as a medium. We introduce an image-processing approach that extracts motion from a real dappled light video and applies this natural motion to abstract shapes, thereby controlling for confounding spatial characteristics. In a between-subjects laboratory experiment (N = 67), participants experienced one of three experimental conditions during recovery following a stressor task: a static pattern (control, n = 21), a dynamic pattern with natural motion (n = 22), and a dynamic pattern with non-natural motion (n = 24). Stress was assessed by physiological measures of skin conductance level (SCL), heart rate variability (HRV), and heart rate (HR), as well as subjective arousal. Natural motion led to significantly greater recovery (after outlier removal) than the non-natural one, as indicated by HRV. No differences were found on SCL, HR, or subjective arousal. Unexpectedly, the natural motion condition was not appraised as more natural than the non-natural one. Both dynamic conditions were perceived as more stressful and distracting than the static control, and only the non-natural condition was further rated as less relaxing and less pleasant, underscoring its more negative appraisal. While HRV results provided limited evidence that natural temporal dynamics may support physiological stress recovery compared to non-natural ones, neither dynamic condition differed significantly from the static control condition, and further research is needed to confirm whether this effect reflects a genuine restorative benefit of natural motion or an adverse impact of non-natural motion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102943"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and factors associated with the adoption of heat-adaptive behaviors among residents of a French southern region","authors":"Marlène Guillon ,&nbsp;Mathieu Bourret Soto","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102883","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102883","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense, making it essential to examine individual protective strategies against their negative health effects. We conducted a survey (N = 1,515) in summer 2022 to investigate the prevalence of eight heat-adaptive behaviors (HABs) and the factors associated with their adoption. The population implemented the eight HABs heterogeneously, with closing shutters, blinds, or curtains and going to a cooler or air-conditioned place being the most and least adopted HABs, respectively. Using the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), we found that greater perceived efficacy and descriptive norms were associated with higher adoption of HABs, as measured by an adaptation index, while greater perceived barriers led to lower adaptation. Conversely, demographic characteristics and self-reported health did not seem to be important predictors of adaptation. Our disaggregated analysis indicated that sociodemographic variables, such as gender or income, and threat perception variables exerted a heterogeneous impact on the eight HABs. Our study identified key drivers of HAB adoption that could help health authorities shape their communication campaigns to improve the population's adaptation to heatwaves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102883"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The family-nature-school success pathway: Longitudinal mediation by nature contact and moderation by residential green space","authors":"Jingyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Xinyi Yang ,&nbsp;Yue Qi ,&nbsp;Xiao Yu ,&nbsp;Yinghe Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102871","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102871","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Scholarly interest in the link between nature and children's school success has been on the rise. However, most studies have focused primarily on academic achievement, with less attention paid to the learning process. Moreover, the mechanisms connecting nature-related variables—particularly family members' attitudes toward nature—to children's school success remain understudied. This three-year longitudinal study examined two questions: (1) whether children's nature contact mediated the relationships between family members' attitudes toward nature and their learning engagement, learning anxiety and academic achievement; and (2) whether residential green space at different spatial scales moderated these pathways. Data on nature-related and academic variables were collected across three waves for 429 Chinese children (<em>M</em>_age = 9.86, <em>SD</em> = 0.72 at T1), using subjective reports (from children) and objective geospatial data (NDVI). The results indicated that children's nature contact mediated the relationships between family members' attitudes toward nature and their subsequent learning anxiety, learning engagement, and academic achievement. Residential green space within the 500/1000-m range (instead of 50-, 100-, 250-, 300-, or 2000-m ranges) moderated the relationship between nature contact and academic achievement. For those living in lower residential green space within the 500/1000-m range, children with higher levels of nature contact exhibited better academic achievement. These findings highlight the important roles of families' attitudes toward nature, nature contact, and residential green space in school-age children's school success.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102871"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The psychological effects of lacking physical space: A systematic literature review","authors":"Rhea Haddad ,&nbsp;Jean-Claude Croizet ,&nbsp;Tiffany Morisseau ,&nbsp;Guillaume Dezecache","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102888","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102888","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Experiencing a lack of physical space—feeling cramped or crowded—is an increasingly common feature of urban life. This systematic review synthesizes over five decades of research on the psychological consequences of spatial restriction, integrating 97 empirical studies and more than 500 dependent measures across affective, behavioral, cognitive, social, environmental, and physiological domains. Overall, lack of space was found to produce predominantly negative outcomes, including heightened stress, discomfort, and avoidance behaviors, although positive or neutral effects occasionally emerged in contexts of shared identity and collective engagement. Methodological and conceptual biases appear to have reinforced the historical framing of crowding as inherently problematic, overlooking its potential affiliative or identity-enhancing dimensions. Variability in outcomes can be best understood through a socially embedded, multi-level model in which personal, social, and environmental processes are mutually constitutive. The review highlights the need for cross-cultural, theoretically integrated, and methodologically transparent research, and proposes a framework distinguishing physical from social crowding, acute from chronic exposure, and density from subjective experience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102888"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}