Abstract
Some sustainability-related belief systems (or schemas in Cognitive Behavior Therapy) might result in shame, guilt, or denial if a person fails to meet the standards. The psychology of Harmonization relates sustainability to flourishing but not to human misery and delineates flourishing one’s own life. What nature-related cognitive schemas coexist with psychological flourishing? The purpose of this study was to identify the nature-related cognitive schemas that correlate to self-reported psychological flourishing. This paper provides some data on an overall survey (n = 722) that aimed at evaluating the cognitive schemas, strengths, and cognitive abilities of Lithuanian gymnasium students. We applied the Flourishing Scale (FS) of E. Diener alongside several measures to investigate nature-related cognitive/emotional/behavioral variables. The results revealed associations between different nature-related cognitive schemas (experiential, consumeristic, eco-protectionist, and valorist) and psychological flourishing, positive emotional reactions to nature, and spending time in nature. As this study demonstrates only positive or negative relationships among the examined variables, one of the implications for future research is identifying schemas as predictors of behavioral sustainability and creating an experimental or longitudinal design.
Highlights
Cognitive schemas are information structures about oneself, objects, and one’s relationships with the objects [1]
This paper provides some data on an overall survey (n = 722) that aimed at evaluating the cognitive schemas, strengths, and cognitive abilities of Lithuanian gymnasium students
The results showed that experiential nature-related cognitive schemas are significantly associated with psychological flourishing, positive emotional reactions to nature, and spending time in nature, which is in line with our expectations
Summary
Cognitive schemas are information structures about oneself, objects, and one’s relationships with the objects [1]. They are stored in memory [2] and might determine a person’s current perceptions about their self and the world [3], behavioral responses to stimuli, and emotional well-being [4]. Nature’s cognitive schemas are a relatively under-researched construct of a set of beliefs about nature. Why is research on nature’s cognitive schemas important? Positive nature-related cognitive schemas such as “connectedness to nature“ as a dependent variable were found to be associated with empathy, emotional intelligence, and many positive behavioral factors [17,18] Authors who analyze constructs such as “nature relatedness” [6,7,8,9,10,11], “attitudes to nature” [12], “conservation attitudes” [13], “environmental attitudes” [14], “environmental values” [15], and “self-reported pro-environmental behaviors” [16] investigate the cognitive schemas of nature in terms of CBT.
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