Viewing nature scenes reduces the pain of social ostracism

Abstract

In a series of four studies (<i>N</i>s = 245, 135, 155, 222), we explored the effects of viewing nature scenes on promoting recovery from ostracism. We first manipulated experiences of ostracism, then randomly assigned participants to view photos of either nature, urban scenes, or neutral objects. Across all four studies, participants who viewed nature photos reported significantly lower levels of state social pain, along with significantly higher levels of affect balance and self-esteem. Moreover, when asked to look back and recall how they felt at the time of being ostracized, participants who viewed nature photos reported significantly higher levels of retrospective satisfaction of basic emotional needs than did participants in control conditions. An internal meta-analysis revealed an effect size of <i>d</i> = 0.58. These studies are the first, to our knowledge, to provide experimental evidence of how exposure to nature can alleviate the pain of social ostracism.