Restoration in place: the impact of social context and type of setting on restorative effects Yvonne de Kort & Ramona Gal, Eindhoven (NL), Henk Staats, Leiden (NL)
Research questions What is the influence of the presence of others on restoration? Does this depend on the type of setting?
Tranquility vs. social richness
What would the effect be? Others are perceived as invading privacy or placing constraints on freedom, prevent the feeling of escape and thus hamper restoration in all settings or: Others are an additional source of stimuli, that could especially enrich the experience of cities and other human made places because they belong there, but hamper restorative effect of natural scenes
The research design 3 (environment) x 2 (presence of others) between Ss design 90 respondents (15 in every experimental condition) Effort to keep perceived safety and preference equal in all settings ForestParkVillage Without people With people
Experimental procedure PRS + questio- nnaire Repetition of slide showManipulation Restorative slide show Self report attention Necker Cube test Pre-test attention Practice arithmatic task Double cognitive task Actual arithmatic task Attentional fatigue induction Frustration tolerance test Post-restorative attention Self report attention Necker Cube test
A walk in the forest
A walk in the park
A walk in the village
Preference forestparkvillage without people with people
Perceived Restorativeness Scale Een hoger gemiddelde betekent een hogere waargenomen restoratie Park minder waargenomen restoratie dan bos en stadje. Bos zonder mensen meer dan bos met mensen. forestparkvillage without people with people
Objective measures of attention Een hoger gemiddelde betekent een lager herstel Stadje minder versprongen dan park Een hoger gemiddelde betekent een hoger herstel Stadje langer volgehouden dan park Neckercube forestparkvillage without people with people forestparkvillage Frustration tolerance High restoration High restoration
Attention: self report Een hoger gemiddelde betekent een hoger herstel Bos met mensen hogere zelf gerapporteerde aandacht dan bos zonder mensen forestparkvillage without people with people
Discussion Village was most restorative and prefered on all measures Results on preference and perceived restorativeness fitted with expectations Against expectations, the presence of people in forest had a positive effect on attention restoration measures
The end