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Meredith Banasiak's avatar

100% agree! In 2013, we set out to replicate the Kaplan-Berman study. We didn't get the same results. Some urban images had the same effect as some nature ones. One hypothesis was that because we had an architecture student photograph urban scenes for our urban stimuli, the urban photos were "too good". Certainly the urban photos were more complex than the stimuli used in the original study. Captured through the eye of a design student, maybe the buildings in those urban images were too interesting, perhaps "beautiful", and even potentially restorative. A low level features analysis of the images revealed many common properties between the nature and urban images. The points you make resonate with me. When we set up the dialogue as a categorical contrast between nature and urban, as opposing forces, as good versus evil, we miss out exploring the complex and rich spectrum of how humans perceive environments. Thank you for starting this conversation!

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Paul Whelan's avatar

I really appreciate the inquisitive approach to this question. I have always struggled with the basic Savannah hypothesis. For thousands of generations many humans no longer inhabit savannahs - we lived in forests, tundra, mountains ..... and some of us in villages, towns and cities. I think a big clue is in our social lives. Perhaps humans felt drawn to their natural environments AND their social environments. The warmth of the fire in cave shared with a family band on a cold night has a strong pull. Perhaps the clue is in the restaurant scene you started with. I wonder if we are drawn to visuals that connect to human-centric spaces in which we can imagine ourselves. These can run a wide range of natural and urban spaces, but the important aspect is that we can see our own reflection as happy inhabitants of that environment.

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