From Walks to Acts of Kindness: Exploring the Connection Between Nature Relatedness and Prosocial Behavior

This study examines the relationship between nature relatedness and prosocial behavior. Additionally, it addresses gaps in previous research, which are mainly correlational and inconsistently define both constructs. Nature relatedness is defined as either a trait or a state, while prosocial behavior is measured in various ways. To address these issues, this study manipulated state nature relatedness with Coughlan et al.’s (2022) guided imagery task and measured state nature relatedness (with the EINS), trait nature relatedness (with the NRQ), mood (with the PANAS), and prosocial behaviors across three measures: resource allocation (with the SVO), prosocial intent (with the PBIS), and a new Scenario-Based Prosociality Measure (SBPM). Results showed that the guided imagery task did not significantly increase state nature relatedness or affect mood. However, trait nature relatedness was positively correlated with state nature relatedness (r(156) = .45, p < .001), prosocial intent (ρ = .36, p < .001), scenario-based prosociality (ρ = .34, p < .001) and resource allocation (ρ = .16, p = .05). The new Scenario-Based Prosociality Measure (SBPM) demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = .69) and it was more strongly correlated with prosocial intent (ρ = .65, p < .001) than with resource allocation (ρ = .20, p = .01). These findings highlight trait nature relatedness’s stability and the need for more effective state nature relatedness manipulations.