The Rivers Flow Through Us: Collective Effervescence Mediates the Effect of Nature on Wellbeing

Previous research suggests that experiencing wellbeing in nature fosters environmental stewardship and sustainable behaviors. That makes it important to understand what mediates the relationship between an experience in nature and wellbeing. In the past, researchers have found that a sense of awe predicts feeling wellbeing in nature. However, research also suggests that awe does not account for the full relationship between experiencing nature and enjoying nature, suggesting additional mediators are necessary to fully understand how experiencing nature affects sustainability. In the current research, we examined collective effervescence—a feeling of connection combined with a feeling of sacredness—as a pathway between nature and feelings of enjoyment. To do so, we utilized an experimental memory-recall paradigm in which participants were prompted to re-experience either a nature memory or a neutral everyday memory, and then completed measures of collective effervescence, awe, and wellbeing. We found that collective effervescence mediated the relationship between prime and all measures of enjoying nature. In other words, when people experience nature, they sometimes feel collective effervescence. Collective effervescence then predicts an enjoyable experience.