Thinking Too Much About Yourself? Nature Could Help With That

Many people today feel disconnected from others. While it isn't inherently bad to spend time thinking about oneself, thinking about and helping others can improve health and reduce loneliness.

Researchers previously found that being in natural environments predicts pro-social behavior. My colleagues and I wondered whether it could also influence whether people consciously think more about other people and how connected they feel to them. To study this, we first ran a study with 86 participants who each visited both a nature conservatory and an indoor mall. They spent one hour exploring each of these environments and while they explored, they were prompted by an alarm to complete a survey on a cellphone at various times.

Participants were asked who they most recently thought about and how connected they felt to other people. We found that when participants were in the nature conservatory, they thought less about themselves and more about others. They also felt more connected to nearby people and people around the world.

Because there are many differences between a nature conservatory and an indoor mall, we weren't sure if it was 'nature' itself that was leading to these effects. So, we ran another study. We asked 303 Chicago residents to visit 3-5 parks across the city over a two-week period. When they visited each park, they took a survey and reported how natural the park looked and how connected they felt to the other people around them. A natural park is one with trees and grass or water, whereas a less natural park has more man-made elements, like a playground or courts for sports.

We found that people reported higher feelings of connection to others in the park when they were in a more natural park. This was true regardless of how many people they could see nearby.

We also found that visitors to more natural parks felt more connected to the physical environment than visitors to less natural parks. This conceptually replicated the finding from our first study that when people were in the nature conservatory, they felt more connected to the physical environment.

Although our studies focused on how connected people felt while they were visiting the parks, it's possible that cumulative nature exposure can help turn these temporary feelings into something more permanent. More research is needed in this area to explore how "states" of nature connection become "traits" of nature connectedness.

So, if you're feeling disconnected from others or the world around you but live in a city, there's no need to travel far to receive these benefits of being in nature—both of our studies were conducted in urban parks in Chicago. Although other research has found that awe-inspiring nature, or particularly beautiful nature, is associated with increases in prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors, our research suggests that even visiting regular city parks may shift people's focus away from themselves, and towards others and the planet.

For Further Reading

Schertz, K. E., Kotabe, H. P., Meidenbauer, K. L., Layden, E. A., Zhen, J., Bowman, J. E., ... & Berman, M. G. (2023). Nature's path to thinking about others and the surrounding environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102046. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102046

Goldy, S. P., & Piff, P. K. (2020). Toward a social ecology of prosociality: why, when, and where nature enhances social connection. Current opinion in psychology, 32, 27-31. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.016

Zhang, J. W., Piff, P. K., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Keltner, D. (2014). An occasion for unselfing: Beautiful nature leads to prosociality. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 37, 61-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.11.008

Kathryn Schertz is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan and studies how natural environments influence emotions, thought content, and overall well-being.