The effect of contact with natural environments on positive and negative affect: A meta-analysis

By Ethan A. McMahan, D. Estes. 2015

734 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/370319f1b572efdf7d1fab4f2c5747769f251680

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Absorption: How Nature Experiences Promote Awe and Other Positive Emotions (2018, positive): “Future research should more carefully and rigorously test nature’s differential effects on a multitude of emotions, expanding on this study and previous work (e.g., Bowler, Buyung-Ali, Knight, & Pullin, 2010; see McMahan & Estes, 2015, for a list of studies).”
Cognitive and affective responses to natural scenes: Effects of low level visual properties on preference, cognitive load and eye-movements (2015, background): “Given the wide replication of the positive effects of natural environments (McMahan & Estes, 2015), and researchers' ability to algorithmically model restoration responses (Kardan et al., 2015; Valtchanov & Hancock, 2015), it is logical that the underlying mechanism should be biologically based and…”
Let’s Focus on Solutions to Entrepreneurial Ill-Being! Recovery Interventions to Enhance Entrepreneurial Well-Being (2021, background): “Going outside to spend non- work time in a natural setting improves moods, sating a universal human need to connect to the natural world (McMahan & Estes, 2015).”
Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours (2020, background): “…with a range of positive health (Lovell, Depledge, & Maxwell, 2018; TwohigBennett & Jones, 2018), well-being (Capaldi, Passmore, Nisbet, Zelenski, & Dopko, 2015; McMahan & Estes, 2015) and pro-environmental outcomes (Arendt & Matthes, 2016; Hartig; Kaiser, & Strumse, 2007; Weinstein et al., 2015).”
Are Some Natural Environments More Psychologically Beneficial Than Others? The Importance of Type and Quality on Connectedness to Nature and Psychological Restoration (2019, background): “Indeed, in an important systematic review of 32 22 experimental studies, McMahan and Estes (2015) report that while exposure to natural environments, compared to 23 primarily urban control settings, was associated with reductions in negative emotions, the effects on positive 24 emotions were…”
The Role of Methodological Choices in the Effects of Experimental Exposure to Simulated Natural Landscapes on Human Health and Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review (2020, background): “Related reviews have examined landscape preferences (Stamps, 1990), mood benefits of nature exposure (McMahan & Estes, 2015), and attentional benefits of nature exposure (Ohly et al., 2016; Stevenson et al., 2018).”
Understanding Nature and Its Cognitive Benefits (2019, result): “Although a recent meta-analysis shows evidence for improvements in mood following exposure to nature (McMahan & Estes, 2015), our analyses showed that mood effects are not correlated with cognitive benefits (Stenfors et al., 2019), thus countering the idea that mood changes drive the cognitive…”
Nature contact and mood benefits: contact duration and mood type (2018, methodology): “, 1988), and showed the largest effect size of the instruments used in McMahan and Estes’ (2015) meta-analysis of mood benefits associated with nature contact.”
Trees, grass, or concrete? The effects of different types of environments on stress reduction (2020, result): “This is consistent with a meta-analysis by McMahan and Estes (2015), which Fig.”
Joy and Calm: How an Evolutionary Functional Model of Affect Regulation Informs Positive Emotions in Nature (2016, background): “Such work often focusses on positive affect (e.g. McMahan and Estes 2015) but does not tend to consider an evolutionary functional view of affect regulation and the neurophysiology of emotion.”
Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention (2015, background): “When virtual exposure to nature is compared to actual contact with nature, however, real nature experiences provide a greater mood boost (Kahn, Severson, & Ruckert, 2009; Mayer et al., 2009; McMahan & Estes, 2015).”
The Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Eudaimonic Well-Being: A Meta-analysis (2019, background): “2010; McMahan and Estes 2015), there is growing concern that modern ways of living, particularly in western cultures, undermine our sense of belonging to nature (Bragg 1996; Roszak 1995), and that this may be contributing to increased rates of mental and emotional ill-health (Windhorst and Williams…”
Urban natural environments as nature-based solutions for improved public health - A systematic review of reviews. (2017, background): “Affects and emotions Two reviews included affects and emotions as outcome, either as primary outcome (McMahan and Estes, 2015) or one of several (Bowler et al.”
The value of Twitter data for determining the emotional responses of people to urban green spaces: A case study and critical evaluation (2019, background): “A recent meta-analysis of empirical research into the effects of natural environments on emotional well-being undertaken by McMahan and Estes (2015) provides a number of useful findings.”