Psychopathy moderates the relationship between nature connectedness and cognitive reappraisal

Abstract

The innate relationship that humans share with the natural world is becoming increasingly strained. Our connection to nature - reflected through the psychological construct of nature connectedness - has been shown to benefit areas of physical and mental wellbeing; of which, several relationships are thought to be mediated by ones’ adaptive ability to regulate emotion. Emerging research has also indicated that nature connectedness and proficiency in emotion regulation share inverse relationships with deviant personality traits, such as psychopathy. However, it remains to be seen whether psychopathy, specifically, has a moderating role on the association between nature connectedness and emotion regulation. Three-hundred and nine participants completed an online survey whereby they were asked to self-report nature connectedness, emotion regulation strategy use, and psychopathy. Pearson correlations indicated a positive association between scores on nature connectedness and the use of cognitive reappraisal, but not expressive suppression strategies; a relationship found to be weaker in individuals scoring higher in psychopathy through moderation analysis. Evidence reported here support our hypotheses and indicate the necessity to acknowledge a more diverse array of personality constructs both when discussing the potential benefits of nature connectedness, and when testing the efficacy of nature-based interventions as a means of bringing about health- and wellbeing-related change.