Abstract
Do people classify nature in ways that can be described as archetypes? Could it be that these can be interpreted as health promotive? More and more researchers today suggest that archetypes can be used to analyze, describe, and develop green spaces. In parallel, an increasing number of research results since the 1980s have shown that human health and well-being are positively affected by stays in certain nature areas. The qualities in these nature areas which stand out to be most health-promoting are interpreted to be properties of nature that humans through evolution are prepared to perceive in a positive way. In this study, 547 respondents in southern Sweden answered a questionnaire on properties in natural areas. Through cluster analysis, these properties have been grouped into 10 types of nature and landscape. The 10 clusters are related to specific phenomena and places in Scandinavian nature, which could be described as archetypal. These natural phenomena and places are discussed, partly based on references to archaic Scandinavian mythology, Scandinavian lifestyle, and cultural canon, and partly on research on evolution, human preferences, and how nature can affect human health. We discuss how these nature archetypes evoke anxiety, fear, and distancing as well as calmness, tranquility, and connection. However, researchers have so far focused on how visits to natural environments have affected the sympathetic nervous system, and not realized the possibility of including the calm and connection system as well as the oxytocin in their explanatory models. In a follow-up article, we intend to develop a model for how the nature archetypes can interact with the calm and connection system.
Highlights
Since time immemorial, we humans have had an interest in seeking to explain the great existential story and in placing ourselves and our activities in the universe, often through religious beliefs (Turner, 2005)
The SAS TRIM option and the Centroid analysis suggested that four variables were outliers: “cloudberries,” “the buzz of the mosquitos,” “mixed conifer forests,” and “waterfalls.” The participants in the study came in most cases from southern Sweden where these phenomena are unusual, which might explain why they became outliers
Pseudo F statistics (PSF), does not show any particular plateau of high values that can assist in the analysis
Summary
We humans have had an interest in seeking to explain the great existential story and in placing ourselves and our activities in the universe, often through religious beliefs (Turner, 2005). The Epic of Gilgamesh describes a garden of gods, a paradise as a place where even sicknesses give way and where we may regain power and strength (Stigsdotter, 2005). None of these environments emphasizes buildings – it is nature and the gardens that are highlighted. Nature contains dangerous places, animals, and phenomena, which in various religions (e.g., Christianity and Islam) are tied to evil demons or the devil, and where the malefic underworld (e.g., Hades or Hell) is illustrated as a dark place, with forests where one gets lost; deserts and swamps, and being extremely hot or cold. This may best be seen in Dante’s Divina Comedia, with amazing illustrations of the underworld by Gustave Doré (Alighieri, 2018)
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