Naturaleza, conectividad y bienestar

Resumen

People have been related to Nature in the different contexts, and there are different ways of understanding it. Those relationships have evolved in such a way that Nature has acquired a higher consideration itself, leading to environmental concern. However, despite the changes, is present an anthropocentric view of it, where the human role is essential at the time of understanding it. To study the subjective relationships between the human-being and Nature, several concepts and measures have been developed, such as, Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (Mayer and Frantz, 2004) or Love and Care for Nature Scale (LCS) (Perkins, 2010). However, when people report their level of connectedness, it is not clear what they mean by Nature. Several authors find that natural environments would be those where there has been no human intervention (Macnaghten et al., 1992). This conception generates a dichotomy Nature vs built environment, with no criterion for knowing when something changes from being natural to built. However, some authors have suggested the existence of intermediate categories, forming a continuum between both (Mausner, 1996). Finally, Nature has been related to the people¿s well-being, when the contact with it is both, either real or simulated. To explain this, there are two predominant theories in Environmental Psychology: Ulrich's Theory of Stress Reduction and Kaplan and Kaplan's Theory of Recovery of Attention, both related to preference. A series of investigations are presented in this research. The first empirical investigation tries to analyze the reliability and validity of the CNS, since it is a scale frequently used when the subjective relationships between the human being and Nature are measured. A first study was carried out with the aim of analyzing the reliability of the CNS through the Item Response Theory, depurating it so that a shorter version of the same with a higher precision of measurement is proposed. Secondly, a study was carried out on the validity of the CNS, with the aim of analyzing the differential item functioning on the scale in Spanish and in English (USA). The results show that there is no equivalence of measures, that is, the results obtained by both versions are not comparable. Finally, a study was carried out whose aim was to analyze three measures of the connectedness to Nature, two of them presenting a good discrimination between people with different levels of connectedness. Secondly, it tried to study the meaning of Nature for people. At first a study was carried out with the aim of knowing how people categorize the elements that they consider to be part of Nature. The results show that the elements are categorized into two groups: wild and domestic. In a second time, two studies were carried out in order to check whether there are categories when people organize the environments. The results showed the existence of six differentiated categories based on the degree of human intervention in the environment. In the third place, an investigation is carried out with the aim of studying the extent to which connectedness to Nature and well-being are a function of the contemplation of different types of environments, as well as the relationship between connectedness, well-being and preference for environments. The results showed lower levels of negative affect in the groups that visualized natural environments, and a mediating effect of connectedness in the relationship between preference and well-being. Finally, a study was carried out with the objective of knowing the levels of connectedness and well-being after walking in a quasi-natural environment. The results show that people who walked in the setting obtained higher levels of connectedness and positive affect. Therefore, this work highlights the importance of the human being's role in understanding Nature, as well as its effects on connectedness and well-being, both when the contact is real and simulated.