Degree Year
2010
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Psychology
Advisor(s)
Cynthia Frantz
Committee Member(s)
F. Stephan Mayer
Keywords
Connectedness to Nature, Rejection, Ostracism, Need to belong
Abstract
Can the need to belong be met in ways other than relationships with other people? This study tested whether connectedness to nature can serve the same function as interpersonal emotional connections in response to interpersonal rejection. Participants (n = 75) either relived an interpersonal rejection experience, or an academic failure. Levels of aggression, negative affect and cognitive deficit, along with their levels of interdependence and connectedness to nature were then measured. Connectedness to nature was found to be activated and elevated in importance by rejected participants who were chronically less emotionally connected to nature. Though connectedness to nature did not moderate effects of negative affect, it did moderate males’ aggression in response to rejection. This suggests that under some circumstances connectedness to nature can be functionally analogous to interdependence, and that the natural world can thus fill the same role as social relationships with other people.
Repository Citation
Lovell, Case E., "Letting the Outside In: Connectedness to Nature’s Buffering Effects Against Social Rejection" (2010). Honors Papers. 384.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/384
