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Abstract
Environmental conditions affect one’s aesthetic experience in natural environments. Understanding that effect requires accounting for the conditions affecting one’s attention and experience. Rather than attempt to reduce and control environmental factors, we compare two similar groups during naturally occurring, intense and overwhelming conditions and examine the relationship between common characteristics as well as environment and group differences. Participants undertook a 5-day, winter, wilderness adventure training course designed to challenge their considerable wilderness and leadership skills under two different extreme weather conditions but within the same wilderness area (n = 47 full participation). In addition to pre- and post-adventure questionnaires, participants responded daily during the wilderness experience to briefly describe a self-selected, strong experience of nature; characterize its associated feeling states; and answer questions probing eight aesthetic aspects of the experience. Participant strong experience of nature related to hedonic and eudaimonic feelings in different ways depending upon environmental conditions. In particular, strong correlations occurred between agreement ratings with “I felt at home in nature” daily experience reports and satisfaction with life and personal growth trait measures, but primarily during sunny and cold conditions on a high plateau (PG: Pearson r = 0.51; SWL: r = 0.70) and not significantly in stormy and wet weather in a mountain forest. In addition, experience narratives that correspond to strongest agreement to feeling at home in nature were examined for shared themes and synthesized into six dimensions: focus on sensory experiences at a particular moment, self-reflection, wonder, appreciation of beauty, positive emotions, and insight of relation to nature. These findings actualize the notion of wonder, aroused by sudden feelings or by reflection, as a salient ingredient in feeling at home in wilderness. The finding of feeling at home in nature, as the most important feature relating to feelings and well-being, is discussed in relation to self-awareness, philosophical thinking, and potential ethical awareness.
Highlights
When moving outdoors into the wilderness, various aesthetic experiences take place
We explore if sublime aspects of aesthetic nature experiences yield situational wilderness experiences, and if so, how we can characterize and understand these experiences
Aesthetic Situational Nature Experiences As we were unaware of a suitable questionnaire to examine aesthetic experience in nature, we tested eight novel aesthetic theory-generated questions: (1) I experienced beautiful scenery, (2) I was aware of small details in nature, (3) I appreciated variety in nature, (4) I felt everything was connected in nature, (5) I felt at home in nature, (6) I felt nature evoked wonder, (7) I felt beauty in nature evoked wonder, and (8) I felt nature evoked awe and respect
Summary
When moving outdoors into the wilderness, various aesthetic experiences take place. In a sweeping landscape just moving one’s head may change one’s experience radically, so outdoor aesthetic experience is dynamic in a way that differs from looking at a piece of art One might choose to pay attention to shifts of environmental conditions, focus on certain objects in wilderness, attend to inner processes of mental or spiritual states, or struggle for satisfying needs and comfort in harsh conditions. One’s selective attention shifts among sensory stimuli and one’s felt experience of them. William James likens one’s attention to a “stream of thoughts,” and one’s selective interest plays a key role in understanding experience in contrast to utter chaos We intend to identify core characteristics of the aesthetic wilderness experience in Norwegian winter mountains
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