Study title

This data was collected as part of an online experiment. A sample of participants (n = 372) was mildly stressed and then recovered by watching a 360-degree video from a woodland, randomly assigned from 4 different conditions. Each condition showed the same woodland setting, but at different levels of biodiversity. The data includes Affective States scores (Positive Affect and Negative Affect) measured from the same participant at three points in time. Further, it includes Demographic information (gender, age and ethnicity), Nature connectedness, and a self-reported measure of the time spent outdoors by the participants during their childhood. Subjective perceptions of biodiversity (i.e. how biodiverse the participant thought the video to be) were also measured.

This PhD project investigates how urban biodiversity (i.e. the number of different species in a given urban environment) may play a role in providing recovery from psychophysiological stress. Urban green spaces, such as parks, woodlands and gardens, provide opportunities for relief from stressful city life. However, research suggests that not all that is green is good and equally beneficial to city dwellers, but that quality matters. For example, the extent of biodiversity of urban green spaces has interesting relationships with mood improvement and physiological stress reduction, although experimental evidence is limited.