Project Title
Experiencing Nature in Virtual Reality: Awe as a Mediator of Well-being Effects
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Whitney Heppner
Abstract
The current study proposes to examine how exposure to a Virtual Reality (VR) nature setting may enhance well-being through experience of awe, which may play a significant role in mediating these effects. To test this, participants complete a two-part study. Session one includes a baseline measure including demographics, previous meditation and VR experience, a trait mindfulness measure (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and a personality scale (Gosling et al., 2003). Both sessions include a pretest measure of affect (Watson et al., 1988) and the State Mindfulness Scale (Tanay & Bernstein, 2013). Participants complete an unrelated VR control task that teaches them the interface; then they complete a meditation played via audio recording while being exposed to nature under one of two different conditions: either a lab room with natural elements (e.g. plants, greenery poster) or a VR nature setting. The order of these meditation conditions is counterbalanced across participants. After the meditation task in each of the two sessions, every participant completes the measure of affect and of state mindfulness again, as well as the Situational Awe Scale (Krenzer et al., 2020). We predict that reported affect will be more positive for the VR nature meditation condition than the lab meditation condition. Furthermore, we predict that situational awe will mediate this effect. If our hypotheses are supported, the results would suggest that previously validated methods of improving wellness, such as meditation and exposure to nature, may be enhanced by using VR. Further, this may encourage use of VR nature in therapeutic settings for individuals with less access to nature (e.g. hospital settings, quarantine for COVID, etc.) and for those with stress-related disorders or needs.
Experiencing Nature in Virtual Reality: Awe as a Mediator of Well-being Effects
The current study proposes to examine how exposure to a Virtual Reality (VR) nature setting may enhance well-being through experience of awe, which may play a significant role in mediating these effects. To test this, participants complete a two-part study. Session one includes a baseline measure including demographics, previous meditation and VR experience, a trait mindfulness measure (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and a personality scale (Gosling et al., 2003). Both sessions include a pretest measure of affect (Watson et al., 1988) and the State Mindfulness Scale (Tanay & Bernstein, 2013). Participants complete an unrelated VR control task that teaches them the interface; then they complete a meditation played via audio recording while being exposed to nature under one of two different conditions: either a lab room with natural elements (e.g. plants, greenery poster) or a VR nature setting. The order of these meditation conditions is counterbalanced across participants. After the meditation task in each of the two sessions, every participant completes the measure of affect and of state mindfulness again, as well as the Situational Awe Scale (Krenzer et al., 2020). We predict that reported affect will be more positive for the VR nature meditation condition than the lab meditation condition. Furthermore, we predict that situational awe will mediate this effect. If our hypotheses are supported, the results would suggest that previously validated methods of improving wellness, such as meditation and exposure to nature, may be enhanced by using VR. Further, this may encourage use of VR nature in therapeutic settings for individuals with less access to nature (e.g. hospital settings, quarantine for COVID, etc.) and for those with stress-related disorders or needs.