Environmental emotion regulation: validation of the “location selection in nature” scale and experimental evidence from 2D video and VR interventions with natural and urban settings

The interplay between nature and human well-being has garnered increasing attention in both academic research and public discourse, particularly in light of rising urbanization and the growing disconnection from natural spaces. This thesis explores the impact of natural environments on emotion regulation—a crucial psychological process influencing mental health and adaptive functioning. Drawing on existing literature supporting nature’s benefits, this research addresses a critical knowledge gap by exploring emotion regulation processes as a potential mechanism through which diverse environmental contexts impact affective outcomes. Preliminarily, two systematic reviews were conducted on nature’s role in emotion regulation (Review 1) and emotion elicitation through virtual reality (Review 2), aiming to identify gaps in prior literature. Building on these findings, the thesis introduces the novel category of location selection within the Process Model of Emotion Regulation, emphasizing how environmental context shapes emotional responses and management. A scale to measure location selection in natural environments was developed and validated in English (S1-S2), adapted into Italian (S3), and implemented with specific stimuli of natural environments images (S4). Two experimental studies used 2D videos (S5) and virtual reality scenarios (S6) to assess emotional outcomes after negative mood induction, finding that nature significantly reduced negative emotions, with more complex effects on emotion regulation. Collectively, these findings deepen the understanding of how natural environments affect emotion regulation processes, providing important theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions to the field.