Effort and Reward

Liu and colleagues’ conclusions are likely applicable more broadly than the tested condition.  They found that “participants wearing a heavy backpack gave higher esthetic scores to and generate a strong attentional bias toward the green natural landscapes. Furthermore, the implicit association test (IAT) revealed that a green natural landscape was more readily associated with a high level of relaxation when the participants wore a backpack. The results indicated that the bodily sensation of a physical burden modulates [affects] the esthetic preference for natural environments when they consist of green plants, which are associated with a high level of relaxation and have significant evolutionary implications.”

Sizhe Liu, Hua Wang, Wenxuan Liu, Shuxian Lai, Xueru Zhao, Xianyou He, and Wei Zhang.  “The Influence of Physical Burden on the Esthetics Preference for Green Natural Environment.”  Environment and Behavior, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165221093881