個人自然連結對自然景觀知覺之影響

Abstract

許多研究證實接觸自然環境能夠促進身心的健康狀態。接觸自然不但能幫助人們恢復注意力，減低壓力，養成健康的運動習慣，並且有助於自然環境中社會互動的產生。雖然接觸自然或是觀看自然的健康效益已受到肯定，但從現實情況中卻可發現，一些人對自然環境的恢復性或其他偏好相關品質的評價卻不高。對於自然環境過低的評價卻很可能影響了人們對自然環境的偏好，以及再次造訪自然環境的意願。 本研究嘗試從人與自然關係的觀點，尋找影響自然環境中正向知覺體驗的因素。在本研究中，吾人提出個人主觀的與自然連結的認知將可能是自然環境中偏好相關知覺體驗的一個穩定的預測因子。自然連結是個人對於與地球上其他生命體相連結的深層謝意及理解，而當自然連結特徵較高時，個人會覺得自然環境是吸引人且充滿魅力的。個人的自然連結特徵很可能可以在自然環境中促使人與自然之間的共鳴產生，而這個共鳴的產生將伴隨著個人在自然中正向環境資訊的知覺體驗。吾人認為，個人的自然連結特徵應能幫助個人在自然環境中維持一定程度的安全感受，並在所處的自然環境中主動且積極的尋找正向的環境資訊，促使個人從中知覺到更多的恢復性以及與環境偏好相關的自然品質。 研究分為兩個階段進行研究假設的驗證。第一階段的研究首先驗證自然林地環境中，個人自然連結特徵與自然景觀知覺的關係。受測者(n =77)針對三組不同景觀結構之自然林地環境進行環境知覺的評分，包括:安全感、一致性、複雜性、易讀性、神秘性、注意力恢復性、熟悉感及偏好。接著以Natural Relatedness (NR)量表測量受測者之自然連結，並最後請受測者提供個人的簡單背景資料。研究結果發現，在控制景觀結構及個人對於環境的熟悉感的情況之下，當個人的自然連結程度越高則在自然林地中的正向景觀知覺將越豐富，其中包括安全感、易讀性、神秘性及注意力恢復性等自然品質的知覺。綜合研究結果，吾人認為自然連結特徵增進了個人在自然林地環境中的知覺體驗。 研究二中延伸探討在不同知覺自然度環境中，個人自然連結與景觀知覺的關係。四組做為測試的環境分別為：都市、都市林地、鄉野林地、自然林地等四個不同知覺自然度的環境。受測者(n = 268) 先以Natural Relatedness (NR)量表測量自然連結，接著隨機的對其中一組環境照片進行景觀知覺變項的評分。最後請受測者提供個人的背景資料。研究結果發現，個人的自然連結特徵幫助個人在不同知覺自然程度的自然環境中，維持一定程度的安全感受，並增進了個人對於注意力恢復性及其他偏好相關自然品質的知覺。但在以人工構造物為主的都市環境中，個人的自然連結特徵則與都市環境品質的知覺無關。 本研究嘗試建構人與自然關係及自然景觀知覺兩個方向之理論間的關連性，透過兩個領域之結合，探討人與自然連結在自然景觀知覺促進上的作用，替雙邊理論之延伸及結合做出貢獻。經過兩階段的假設驗證發現，自然連結特徵能夠幫助個人在自然環境中維持一定程度的安全感受，並協助個人在所處的自然環境中知覺正向的環境資訊。自然連結特徵不僅能夠幫助人們在非常自然的環境中感受更為豐富的知覺體驗，更可以幫助人們在知覺自然度較低的綠地環境裡，感受自然環境所能夠帶來的知覺效益。這使得自然連結對自然景觀知覺的影響更為廣泛了。 吾人結論，個人的自然連結特徵標誌著個人與自然環境共鳴的潛力，而這個潛力的提升將提高個人在綠地環境中知覺各項環境品質的可能性。個人的自然連結特徵將使得人們在綠地環境中知覺到更豐富的正向環境資訊。研究的結果找出了一個對於自然景觀知覺穩定而有效的人為預測因子，而後續如何透過種種手段去提升個人的自然連結程度，會是增進景觀知覺的一個可行的方法。景觀品質的知覺將提升人們接觸自然環境的經驗，並進而促進自然環境中身心健康效益的獲得。

Exposure to natural environments can promote health and wellbeing. Individuals can restore their attentional capacities, reduce stress, develop healthy habits and have better social interaction in nature. Although contact with nature has been shown to promote health and wellbeing across the life-span, many people do not seem to perceive sufficient restorative and preference-related qualities while in contact with nature. The uninspiring perceptual experiences that they have had in nature may diminish their preference for, and willingness to, visit natural areas. In order to identify potential antecedents of positive perceptual experiences in natural settings, we investigated the influential role of a personal connection with nature on perceptions of preference-related environmental information in varying natural settings. The concept of connection to nature describes a deep appreciation of, and affiliation with, natural environments; and individuals with higher levels of connection to nature are suspected to view natural landscapes as more attractive and fascinating. A sense of connection to nature should encourage individuals to resonate with the environment spontaneously and to find fascinating information in the encountered natural landscapes. We suggest that an individual’s connection to nature may help individuals to retain a sense of safety, to take an active role in seeking positive environmental information, and consequently, to perceive more restorative and preference-related qualities of natural settings. In the current study, we investigated the research question by two steps. In the first part of the study, the participants (n = 77) rated three different types of natural forest landscapes in terms of perceived environmental information, including sense of safety, coherence, complexity, legibility, mystery, attentional restorativeness, familiarity and preference. Participants also reported their background and connection with nature through the use of the natural relatedness scale (NR). The results showed that deeper personal connections to nature are associated with greater perceptual evaluations of sense of safety, legibility, mystery, and attentional restorativeness after accounting for landscape type and familiarity. A personal connection to nature is likely to enhance a person’s perceptual experiences of natural landscapes. In the second part of the study, we investigated the relationship between the participant’s personal connection to nature and their perceptual evaluations of landscapes by images with different levels of perceived naturalness. The four sets of images are photos of urban area, urban woods, rural woods and natural woods. Each participant (n = 268) rated one set of images in terms of perceived environmental information and provided their connection with nature by NR scale. The results showed that deeper personal connections to nature are associated with greater perceptual evaluations of urban woods, rural woods and natural woods. In contrast, this relationship does not exist in the urban area. It is concluded that a personal connection to nature is likely to enhance a person’s perceptual experiences in green areas, no matter how natural the green area is. The study make the link between two different literatures in environmental psychology: a sense of personal relationship with nature, and landscape perceptions. This topic has not yet been addressed in the empirical literature, and the result extend the application of personal connectedness to nature from ecological behavior to perceptual experience of natural landscape.