Naming something? Add Nature!

If you want to give the impression that something is of value, then add some “nature” to it.

Hahnel-Peeters and colleagues report that “In Study 1, we conducted a content analysis of the naming conventions of apartment buildings and residential neighborhoods. We hypothesized that there would be more nature words (e.g., valley, river, arbor) in apartment and neighborhood names than nonnature words (e.g., 4th Street; Renaissance, Washington). . . .

Results strongly supported our hypothesis; There were 52% more nature words than nonnature words in the names of apartment buildings and residential neighborhoods. Study 2 . . . [investigated] if apartments and neighborhoods with nature names were perceived as more valuable than those without nature names.

Participants rated five photographs of apartments and five photographs of neighborhoods photoshopped to display nature or nonnature names. . . . Apartments and neighborhoods with manipulated nature names were rated as statistically more expensive.”

Rebecka Hahnel-Peeters, Kyle Peeters, and Aaron Goetz. “Why Boulder Springs Has No Boulders and No Springs:  Evolved Landscape Preferences and Naming Conventions.”  Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000414