IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0097915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Nature of Impulsivity: Visual Exposure to Natural Environments Decreases Impulsive Decision-Making in a Delay Discounting Task

Author

Listed:
  • Meredith S Berry
  • Mary M Sweeney
  • Justice Morath
  • Amy L Odum
  • Kerry E Jordan

Abstract

The benefits of visual exposure to natural environments for human well-being in areas of stress reduction, mood improvement, and attention restoration are well documented, but the effects of natural environments on impulsive decision-making remain unknown. Impulsive decision-making in delay discounting offers generality, predictive validity, and insight into decision-making related to unhealthy behaviors. The present experiment evaluated differences in such decision-making in humans experiencing visual exposure to one of the following conditions: natural (e.g., mountains), built (e.g., buildings), or control (e.g., triangles) using a delay discounting task that required participants to choose between immediate and delayed hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants viewed the images before and during the delay discounting task. Participants were less impulsive in the condition providing visual exposure to natural scenes compared to built and geometric scenes. Results suggest that exposure to natural environments results in decreased impulsive decision-making relative to built environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Meredith S Berry & Mary M Sweeney & Justice Morath & Amy L Odum & Kerry E Jordan, 2014. "The Nature of Impulsivity: Visual Exposure to Natural Environments Decreases Impulsive Decision-Making in a Delay Discounting Task," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-7, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0097915
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097915
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0097915
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0097915&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0097915?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rudd, Melanie & Vohs, Kathleen D. & Aaker, Jennifer, 2012. "Awe Expands People's Perception of Time, Alters Decision Making, and Enhances Well-Being," Research Papers 2095, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    2. Takahashi, Taiki, 2007. "A comparison of intertemporal choices for oneself versus someone else based on Tsallis’ statistics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 385(2), pages 637-644.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meredith S. Berry & Norma P. Nickerson & Amy L. Odum, 2017. "Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Martin, Leanne & White, Mathew P. & Pahl, Sabine & May, Jon & Wheeler, Benedict W., 2020. "Neighbourhood greenspace and smoking prevalence: Results from a nationally representative survey in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    3. Angelo Panno & Annalisa Theodorou & Giuseppe Alessio Carbone & Evelina De Longis & Chiara Massullo & Gianluca Cepale & Giuseppe Carrus & Claudio Imperatori & Giovanni Sanesi, 2021. "Go Greener, Less Risk: Access to Nature Is Associated with Lower Risk Taking in Different Domains during the COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan, 2019. "Narrative Medicine Meets Planetary Health: Mindsets Matter in the Anthropocene," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, February.
    5. Meredith A Repke & Meredith S Berry & Lucian G Conway III & Alexander Metcalf & Reid M Hensen & Conor Phelan, 2018. "How does nature exposure make people healthier?: Evidence for the role of impulsivity and expanded space perception," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan, 2016. "Transforming Life: A Broad View of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Concept from an Ecological Justice Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-44, November.
    7. Mathias Hofmann & Christopher Young & Tina M. Binz & Markus R. Baumgartner & Nicole Bauer, 2017. "Contact to Nature Benefits Health: Mixed Effectiveness of Different Mechanisms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Femke Beute & Yvonne De Kort & Wijnand IJsselsteijn, 2016. "Restoration in Its Natural Context: How Ecological Momentary Assessment Can Advance Restoration Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, April.
    9. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan, 2018. "Larger Than Life: Injecting Hope into the Planetary Health Paradigm," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, March.
    10. Jie Wu & Zhenliang Yang & Mengxuan Wu & Hui Huang, 2023. "The Relationship Between College Students' Mobile Phone Addiction and Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 1037-1055, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Qian & Chen, Juan & Li, Ruoxi & Liu, Jingtong, 2024. "Experiencing awe, engaging in extreme sports: Incidental awe as an effective promoter for extreme sports engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Martinez, Alexandre Souto & González, Rodrigo Silva & Terçariol, César Augusto Sangaletti, 2008. "Continuous growth models in terms of generalized logarithm and exponential functions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(23), pages 5679-5687.
    3. Jinhyung Kim & Patricia Holte & Frank Martela & Colin Shanahan & Zhanhong Li & Hong Zhang & Nikolett Eisenbeck & David F. Carreno & Rebecca J. Schlegel & Joshua A. Hicks, 2022. "Experiential appreciation as a pathway to meaning in life," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 677-690, May.
    4. Alexandre Souto Martinez & Rodrigo Silva Gonzalez & Cesar Augusto Sangaletti Tercariol, 2008. "Continuous growth models in terms of generalized logarithm and exponential functions," Papers 0803.2635, arXiv.org, revised May 2008.
    5. Cruz Rambaud, Salvador & Muñoz Torrecillas, María José, 2013. "A generalization of the q-exponential discounting function," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(14), pages 3045-3050.
    6. Yang, Yan & Hu, Jing, 2021. "Self-diminishing effects of awe on consumer forgiveness in service encounters," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Josca van Houwelingen-Snippe & Thomas J. L. van Rompay & Menno D. T. de Jong & Somaya Ben Allouch, 2020. "Does Digital Nature Enhance Social Aspirations? An Experimental Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Dong Lu & Yide Liu & Ivan Lai & Li Yang, 2017. "Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, November.
    9. Lu, Yang & Zhuang, Xintian, 2014. "The impact of gender and working experience on intertemporal choices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 409(C), pages 146-153.
    10. Han, Ruokang & Takahashi, Taiki, 2012. "Psychophysics of time perception and valuation in temporal discounting of gain and loss," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(24), pages 6568-6576.
    11. Jianbin Zhao & Zheng Li & Guobao Xiong, 2022. "Triggers and Consequences of Awe in Online Brand Community," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    12. Josca van Houwelingen-Snippe & Thomas J. L. van Rompay & Somaya Ben Allouch, 2020. "Feeling Connected after Experiencing Digital Nature: A Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-16, September.
    13. Takahashi, Taiki, 2009. "Tsallis’ non-extensive free energy as a subjective value of an uncertain reward," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(5), pages 715-719.
    14. Söderlund, Magnus, 2022. "Service robots with (perceived) theory of mind: An examination of humans’ reactions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. N. S. Fagley, 2018. "Appreciation (Including Gratitude) and Affective Well-Being: Appreciation Predicts Positive and Negative Affect Above the Big Five Personality Factors and Demographics," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(4), pages 21582440188, December.
    16. Ausloos, M., 2012. "Measuring complexity with multifractals in texts. Translation effects," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 45(11), pages 1349-1357.
    17. Yu Niiya, 2019. "My Time, Your Time, or Our Time? Time Perception and Its Associations with Interpersonal Goals and Life Outcomes," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1439-1455, June.
    18. Ainsworth, Jeremy, 2020. "Feelings of ownership and volunteering: Examining psychological ownership as a volunteering motivation for nonprofit service organisations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    19. Zhao, Pan & Xiao, Qingxian, 2016. "Portfolio selection problem with liquidity constraints under non-extensive statistical mechanics," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 5-10.
    20. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury & Denni Arli & Felix Septianto, 2024. "How Religiosity Affects Attitudes Toward Brands That Utilize LGBTQ-Themed Advertising," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(1), pages 63-88, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0097915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.