Tranquility and challenge in the natural environment

Abstract

The issue of clarity is perhaps most urgent and powerful for the adolescent. One interesting route to clarity is through challenge and fascination. People have powerful reactions to certain environmental patterns, although they may not be aware of them if they have not had the opportunity to experience them. Having such an opportunity at a time when issues of identity and one's relation to the environment are pressing could have a lasting impact on the character and functioning of the individual. The natural environment, with its special capacity to hold an individual's attention, may be unusually effective in fostering the experience of cognitive clarity.

Parent Publication

• Children, nature, and the urban environment: proceedings of a symposium-fair

Citation

Kaplan, Stephen. 1977. Tranquility and challenge in the natural environment. In: Children, Nature, and the Urban Environment: Proceedings of a Symposium-Fair; Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-30. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 180-185