Restoration in place: the impact of social context and type of setting on restorative effects Yvonne...

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

Forest Park Village

Without people

With people

Experimental procedure

PRS + questio-nnaire

Repetition of slide show

Manipulation

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

omgeving

stadjeparkbos

Ge

mid

de

lde

sco

re o

p p

refe

ren

tie

6,0

5,5

5,0

4,5

4,0

wel of geen mensen

geen mensen

met mensen

forest park village

without people

with people

Perceived Restorativeness Scale

omgeving

stadjeparkbos

Wa

arg

en

om

en

re

sto

ratie

5,2

5,0

4,8

4,6

4,4

4,2

4,0

wel of geen mensen

geen mensen

met mensenEen hoger gemiddelde betekent een

hogere waargenomen restoratie

Park minder waargenomen restoratie dan bos en stadje. Bos zonder mensen

meer dan bos met mensen.

forest park village

without people

with people

Objective measures of attention

omgeving

stadjeparkbos

Ge

mid

de

ld a

an

tal k

ee

r ve

rsp

rin

ge

n

5,5

5,0

4,5

4,0

3,5

3,0

2,5

2,0

1,5

wel of geen mensen

geen mensen

met mensen

omgeving

stadjeparkbos

Ge

mid

de

ld a

an

tal s

eco

nd

en

fig

. 2

&3

420

400

380

360

340

320

300

280

wel of geen mensen

geen mensen

met mensen

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

forest park village

without people

with people

forest park village

Frustration tolerance

Highrestoration

Highrestoration

Attention: self report

omgeving

stadjeparkbos

Ge

mid

de

lde

va

n d

e v

rag

en

lijst

na

4,8

4,6

4,4

4,2

4,0

3,8

3,6

wel of geen mensen

geen mensen

met mensen

Een hoger gemiddelde betekent een hoger herstel

Bos met mensen hogere zelf gerapporteerde aandacht dan bos

zonder mensen

forest park village

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