School of Geography - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemVegetation colour and effects on emotional responses( 2013)The topic for this literature review concerns the possible effects of vegetation colour on human well-being. The particular issue at the core of this review is the possible differential well-being effects of shades of green that are associated with native and non-native vegetation-which are described in this review as native green and non-native green. The links between nature, and vegetation as a key component of nature, are well established in environmental psychology (EP). There has been some limited research into colour preferences of vegetation but the research into other psychological or physiological responses to vegetation colour is almost non-existent. Despite the lack of colour research in EP, there exists a large of body of work in a range of other disciplines that have examined the emotional, behavioural and cognitive effects of colour as well as colour preferences Colour research indicates that colours elicit emotional responses. Individuals experiencing positive emotions are more likely to have improved personal and social well-being. This review therefore conceptualises well-being as positive emotional responses. It is suggested that colour research in EP has been held back by the inability of the dominant theories, Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Reduction Theory (SRT), to explain the effects of colour. In a recent critique of ART and SRT, an alternative theory of Processing Fluency (PF) has been proposed. PF is an established theory used in several domains of psychology. High processing fluency is thought to produce positive affective responses. This literature revealed several relevant constructs that suggest how colour may effect emotional responses in vegetation. These include colour memory of prototype objects and prototype colour; categorical perception of colour (which suggests that 'focal' green or the idealised green can be identified by the Munsell notation of 2.5G); as well as semantic meanings and personal history, knowledge and familiarity. The review surveyed two main areas of research-a group concerned with vegetation and colour and another group concerned with psycho-physiological responses to colour. Of these a smaller subgroup was formed which had investigated emotional responses to colour. This sample was assessed to evaluate the experimental approaches and methods that were employed. Of this research, only three were concerned with vegetation colour and all were found to contain flaws Despite this, the review concluded that testing emotional responses to vegetation is achievable and identified it as a research area with vast potential for its implications for human well-being. It also surmised that PF is an appropriate framework to explore this question Preliminary observations of native green and non-native green indicate both fall outside of the range of 'focal green'. However, non-native green appears to be higher in chroma moving its perceptual qualities more toward focal green. Higher chroma is also shown to be preferred and is correlated with increased pleasure. The research suggests that it could be hypothesised that green will produce positive emotional responses, with greater effects found in non-native green rather than native green. However, this response may not be universal and may be mediated by familiarity and knowledge held by some individuals within the population who have a greater awareness of the environmental benefits of native plants. -