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Updated: Jun 18, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Nature lifts when feeling low: Daily high and low awe nature clips decrease repetitive negative thinking and
Liesbeth Bogaert1, Yannick Joye2, Egon Dejonckheere1,3
1Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
Exposure to nature can enhance mental well-being, making nature-based interventions promising for the treatment and prevention of mental health problems like depression. Given the decreased self-focus and sense of self-diminishment associated with awe, the present study investigated the impact of exposure to awe-evoking nature on two key risk and maintenance factors of depression-repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and dampening of positive feelings-and on subjective happiness. In a randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of exposure to awe-evoking nature clips through a 1-week intervention, consisting of watching a 1-min clip on a daily basis of either awe-evoking (n high awe = 108) or more mundane nature scenes (n low awe = 105). Before, immediately after (post-intervention) and 1 week after the intervention (follow-up), participants completed self-report scales probing RNT, dampening, and subjective happiness. Results indicated significant decreases in these outcomes at post-intervention and follow-up in both groups. We discuss study limitations, touch upon future research ideas, and reflect upon the role of nature for clinical applications.
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