By Anne Schutte, Associate Professor of Psychology, Developmental Program
The 67th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation once again brought together faculty from different departments to organize the symposium. Anne Schutte (Psychology), Julia Torquati (Child, Youth, and Family Studies), and Jeffrey Stevens (Psychology) brought together researchers studying how time in natural environments influences cognition and well-being. This topic is timely, given that Americans have decreased the amount of time spent in natural environments. This area of research spans many disciplines including psychology, education, health sciences, natural resources, environmental studies, landscape design, and architecture, just to name a few.
Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of this field of study, the symposium involved a number of outstanding scholars from psychology, architecture, and environmental design. This year’s speakers included Marc Berman (University of Chicago), Louise Chawla (University of Colorado-Boulder), Terry Hartig (Uppsala University), William Sullivan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Agnes van den Berg (University of Groningen), and Nancy Wells (Cornell University). Although coming from different departments and training, each of these scholars pursues a research program that examines the influence of exposure to nature on cognition and well-being. They use the most advanced methods, including behavioral, epidemiological, and neuroimaging methods, to examine important questions about how nature influences our well-being throughout development. The final talk was given by discussant Harry Heft (Denison University).
This year’s symposium was supported by funding from the Office of the Chancellor, the Department of Children, Youth, and Family Studies, and the College of Architecture. We were privileged to have Associate Vice Chancellor Deb Hamernik provide the opening day welcome. The symposium closed Friday evening in Morrill Hall with a presentation of the documentary “Follow the Water” and a question and answer session with nature photographer Michael Forsberg. A reception and opportunity to tour the museum followed the question and answer session.
Once again, we provided free live streaming of the symposium through the UNL website. This allowed many to participate who were not able to travel to Lincoln.