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Koole & van den Berg (2005) - Lost in the Wilderness

3 important questions on Koole & van den Berg (2005) - Lost in the Wilderness

Were is the study of Koole & van den Berg about?

People have ambivalent feelings about nature
due to the psychological factors supression and action orientation
which make differences in natural preferences.

Which theories are grounding this study? (2)

- Terror Management Theory (TMT)
(People are constantly supressing existential anxiety about their own mortality, and nature reminds them of feelings of death. When supression fails, wilderness evaluation decrease (while feelings of anxiety increase)).

- Action orientation theory
People differ in their capacity to regulate their affect and
there are individual differences between action and state orientated people. Action orientated people evaluate wilderness higher than state orientated people.

How does the total study looks like? (5 studies)

5 studies

Study 1: people think more about death and freedom in a wilderness environment than in a urban environment.

Study 2: once reminded to death, preferences for wilderness decrease and cultivated areas arise.

Study 3: action orientated people increase wilderness evaluations and lowers cultivated landscapes.

Study 4: Action orientated people are better in supressing thoughts of death
(wilderness photos/primed lexical decision task)

Study 5: Power of death reminders on natural evaluation on action orientated people.