2008/05/05 by Ke-Tsung Han · 19 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Psychology · #Animal and Plant Science Education #Applied psychology #Clinical psychology #Control (management) #Developmental psychology #Feeling #Mental health #Preference #Psychiatry #Psychology #Punishment (psychology) #Social psychology #Urban Agriculture and Sustainability #Urban Green Space and Health
paper · doi:10.1177/0013916508314476
openalex publication_date 2008/05/05 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
There is growing evidence to support the notion that contact with nature is helpful for emotional states, attention, mental fatigue, behavior, and personal health. This study adopts a quasi-experimental approach to investigate the effects of limitedly visible indoor plants on students' psychology, physiology, and behavior and uses a control-series design covering one semester. Two classes of sophomores at a Taiwanese junior high school (eighth grade, N = 76), of which one served as the experimental group and the other as control, were surveyed once every 2 weeks. After six plants were placed at the back of the classroom, the experimental group had immediately and significantly stronger feelings of preference, comfort, and friendliness as compared to the control group. Also, the experimental group had significantly fewer hours of sick leave and punishment records due to misbehavior than the control group. In addition to the visual and psychological mechanisms that contributed to restoration, there may have been other factors at work.