“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)
Overview
Consider how incredibly vast, intricate, and beautiful our universe is. Everything from the brilliant stars and planets to the complex structure of a leaf. It’s hard not to see our creator’s hand in all of this. Nature truly is wonderful. It offers reassurance that our universe, and ourselves, were created by a loving God.
Such reassurance can precious in the stressful world we live in. Approximately 18% of U.S. adults, 40 million people, suffer from an anxiety disorder. As scientists strive to find ways to reduce our anxiety, a few studies suggest that interacting with nature may hold promise by improving mood, productivity, attention, and other positive outcomes (Berman, et al., 2008; McMahan & Estes, 2015; Nieuwenhuis, et al., 2014).
One study shows that even just looking at images of nature can be enough to improve outcomes like directed-attention performance (Berman et al., 2008). A more recent study has found reductions in anxiety from using only guided imagery (Nguyen & Brymer, 2018).
Such findings suggest that perhaps simply looking at photos of nature can be enough to reduce anxiety and bring us a bit more peace. But how many photos, and for how long? We put it to the test.
Such reassurance can precious in the stressful world we live in. Approximately 18% of U.S. adults, 40 million people, suffer from an anxiety disorder. As scientists strive to find ways to reduce our anxiety, a few studies suggest that interacting with nature may hold promise by improving mood, productivity, attention, and other positive outcomes (Berman, et al., 2008; McMahan & Estes, 2015; Nieuwenhuis, et al., 2014).
One study shows that even just looking at images of nature can be enough to improve outcomes like directed-attention performance (Berman et al., 2008). A more recent study has found reductions in anxiety from using only guided imagery (Nguyen & Brymer, 2018).
Such findings suggest that perhaps simply looking at photos of nature can be enough to reduce anxiety and bring us a bit more peace. But how many photos, and for how long? We put it to the test.
The Experiment
We recruited 302 participants from Amazon MTurk who each viewed photos of either nature or urban settings in batches of either 40, 10, or 1 (randomly assigned, a 2x3 experimental design), then rated their levels of anxiety.
To mitigate “demand effects” where participants guess the hypothesis we’re trying to test and then alter their outcomes in that direction, we told participants that the purpose of the study was to get their ratings of each photo. Participants rated each photo on a 1-3 scale, “Like,” “Neutral,” or “Dislike.” To ensure participants were actually viewing the photos, we disabled advancing to the next photo until at least 5-seconds had elapsed.
Below are some examples of the photos participants saw. These photos were the ones used for the single-photo conditions in which each participant randomly saw either (a) one of the three nature photos or (b) one of the three urban photos. The photos were obtained from the platform Unsplash.
To mitigate “demand effects” where participants guess the hypothesis we’re trying to test and then alter their outcomes in that direction, we told participants that the purpose of the study was to get their ratings of each photo. Participants rated each photo on a 1-3 scale, “Like,” “Neutral,” or “Dislike.” To ensure participants were actually viewing the photos, we disabled advancing to the next photo until at least 5-seconds had elapsed.
Below are some examples of the photos participants saw. These photos were the ones used for the single-photo conditions in which each participant randomly saw either (a) one of the three nature photos or (b) one of the three urban photos. The photos were obtained from the platform Unsplash.
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To measure anxiety, participants answered an adjective-based survey question in which they were asked “How do you feel right now?” then rated six words on a scale from 1 to 7 (1 = Not at all, 7 = Very much). The six words were “Upset,” “Worried,” “Tense,” “Calm” (reverse-coded), “Relaxed” (reverse-coded), “Content” (reverse-coded). The average ratings of these six words comprised our final outcome measure for anxiety.
Results
We used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to test for significant differences in average anxiety between the urban photos and nature photos conditions, as well as whether the size of that difference depended on the number of photos used (1, 10, or 40).
For the main effect of urban vs. nature photos, anxiety levels were significantly lower after viewing photos of nature (avg. = 2.01) relative to photos of urban settings (avg. = 2.53), a 20% reduction (p < 0.001). The graph below depicts this effect, a half point difference on a 1-7 scale.
For the main effect of urban vs. nature photos, anxiety levels were significantly lower after viewing photos of nature (avg. = 2.01) relative to photos of urban settings (avg. = 2.53), a 20% reduction (p < 0.001). The graph below depicts this effect, a half point difference on a 1-7 scale.
The number of photos mattered as well. Although viewing only one photo of nature was insufficient to reduce anxiety, viewing only 10 photos reduced anxiety by 0.73 points, or 28% (p = 0.003). This effect is similar in size to our group who viewed 40 photos and a exhibited a 0.79 point difference, again 28% (p = 0.003).
One caveat to this study is that we can’t rule out that these differences weren’t driven by an increase in anxiety from viewing urban photos, rather than a decrease in anxiety from viewing nature photos. However, it seems unlikely given how common urban scenes like buildings, cars, roads, and stores are in the U.S. Furthermore, prior research has yet to find such an effect. Nevertheless, it is still one that merits a follow-up study to rule out the possibility.
Conclusion
Peace can be hard to come by in our fast-paced world. However, diverting our attention away from this fast-paced life to the beauty of nature created by our magnificent God can help. Even just looking for five seconds at 10 photos of nature seemed to be sufficient to reduce anxiety relative to photos of typical urban scenes. It will be interesting to see what other positive effects this promising line of research uncovers.
References
Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1207–1212.
McMahan, E. A. & Estes, D. (2015). The effect of contact with natural environments on positive and negative affect: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(6), 507-519.
Nguyen, J., & Brymer, E. (2018). Nature-Based Guided Imagery as an Intervention for State Anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1858.
Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T., & Haslam, S. A. (2014). The relative benefits of green versus lean office space: Three field experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20(3), 199.
McMahan, E. A. & Estes, D. (2015). The effect of contact with natural environments on positive and negative affect: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(6), 507-519.
Nguyen, J., & Brymer, E. (2018). Nature-Based Guided Imagery as an Intervention for State Anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1858.
Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T., & Haslam, S. A. (2014). The relative benefits of green versus lean office space: Three field experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20(3), 199.