Preference for Restorative Situations: Interactive Effects of Attentional State, Activity-in-Environment, and Social Context

A new article by Henk Staats, Erika van Gemerden and Terry Hartig, Leisure Sciences

2010 Preference for Restorative Situations: Interactive Effects of Attentional State, Activity-in-Environment, and Social Context, Vol. 32, Issue 5, pp. 401-417.

Abstract
This study extends research on psychological restoration by encompassing a broad set of restorative situations available to urban residents. Preferences are assessed for mundane restorative situations comprising leisure activity, setting, and social context, given different levels of attentional fatigue. Attentional fatigue, activity-setting, and social context were experimentally manipulated. The settings for activities were home, park, city center, and transit. Participants (N=70) read scenarios describing an attentional state and rated their preference for the situations. Results show interactive effects of attentional state with activity-setting and with social context. The park was most preferred given attentional fatigue. Results confirm that while residents may particularly value urban nature for restoration, their urban context also provides other mundane but attractive restorative situations.

Keywords: attention restoration, experimental research, mundane activities, urban leisure