The role of social relational emotions for human-nature connectedness
Open accessAbstract
Little is known about the psychological processes that can explain how connectedness to nature evolves. From social psychology, we know that emotions play an essential role when connecting to others. In this article, we argue that social connectedness and connectedness to nature are underpinned by the same emotions. More specifically, we propose that social relational emotions are crucial to understanding the process, how humans connect to nature. Beside other emotions, kama muta (Sanskrit: being moved by love) might play a particular crucial role when connecting to nature. Future research should address the consideration of social relational emotions in a range of areas when investigating the human-nature relationship.
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Social-connection may lay the foundations for connecting to nature.
“Social-connection has been described as a basic psychological need that is critical for individual wellbeing (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Deci and Ryan, 2014) and may also lay the foundations for connecting to non-human others (i.e. nature) (Petersen et al., 2019), a topic we turn to next.”
From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Petersen et al., 2019
In “Connectedness to Nature and Social Connectedness” (page unavailable), the paper proposes that connections with people and with nature may share psychological mechanisms and reports positive correlations between measures of the two. It does not establish that social connection comes first or lays the foundation for nature connection. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSocial relational emotions such as awe may directly contribute to the experience of wellbeing when in nature.
“Social relational emotions (such as awe) may directly contribute to the experience of wellbeing when in nature (Anderson et al., 2018; Petersen et al., 2019).”
From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Petersen et al., 2019
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Cited by
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Moving beyond disciplinary silos towards a transdisciplinary model of wellbeing: an invited review
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“Social relational emotions (such as awe) may directly contribute to the experience of wellbeing when in nature (Anderson et al., 2018; Petersen et al., 2019).”
Background
- Authors
- Petersen, E., Fiske, A. P., & Schubert, T. W.
- Affiliations
- University of South-Eastern Norway (NO)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Petersen, Evi
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2019-12-17
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 2759-2759
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6928140
- OpenAlex
- W2994852955
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Keywords
- nature connection, kama muta, social connectedness, emotions, human-nature relationship
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