Tranquility and preference as affective qualities of natural environments

Abstract

Independent groups rated 66 color slides of natural settings for the target variables tranquility and preference and for four descriptor variables. Tranquility and preference ratings were strongly correlated across all settings ( r = 0.91). Nevertheless, it was possible to distinguish the two constructs both in terms of mean differences within specific categories of natural settings and in terms of their relationships with descriptor variables. Tranquility was rated higher than preference within the categories of Field-Forest, Large Bodies of Water, and Misty Mountains, while preference was rated higher in the category of Rushing Water. As predicted, ratings of focus (the extent to which the setting contains strong focal points) were more strongly correlated with preference ratings than with tranquility ratings. The same pattern held within all four of seven categories of natural settings in which tranquility and preference were not redundant ( r ≤ 0·83). It appears that tranquility and preference are related but discriminable constructs with their discriminability more pronounced in some environmental categories than in others.