Different places different thoughts

Schertz and teammates report that they “measure[d] differences in thought content and affect throughout a one-hour environmental exploration of a nature conservatory and a large indoor mall. . . . while visiting the conservatory, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the past, more positive and exciting thoughts, and higher feelings of positive affect [mood] and creativity. In the mall, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the future and higher feelings of impulsivity. . . . We also measured cognitive performance. . . . [and determined] that interacting with nature leads to improvements in working-memory performance. . . . a reduction in negative affect was reported for both the conservatory and mall throughout the walks.”

More details on this study: “The conservatory study location was the Garfield Park Conservatory . . . (https://garfieldconservatory.org). The mall location was the Water Tower Place mall . . . (https://www.shopwatertower.com/en.html).”

Kathryn Schertz, Jillian Bowman, Hiroki Kotabe, Elliot Layden, Jenny Zhen, Tanvi Lakhtakia, Muxuan Lyu, Olivia Paraschos, Stephen Van Hedger, Nak Rim, Kathleen Vohs, and Marc Berman.  “Environmental Influences of Affect and Cognition:  A Study of Natural and Commercial Semi-Public Spaces.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101852