78. Pastoral Scenes Make People Happy

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Caption: : Albert Bierstadt – Among the Sierra Nevada, California

Pastoral Imagery

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Denis Dutton: TED

According to Denis Dutton, people are drawn to beautiful pastoral scenes, such as the one before, which speak to our baser instincts of survival: food, protection, and water. This dates back to the Pleistocene Era in our evolution. Check out his TED talk for more –––––––>

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Caption: : Fredric Edwin Church – Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860

Numerous other studies have been done – Mark Berman, 2008; Roger Ulrich, 1984; Peter Kahn, 2009 – to show the effects of "attention restoration", the brain's way of "resetting" after viewing a pastoral setting. In particular, Peter Kahn's study showed that people who were actually in the setting, not just viewing on a monitor or television, actually had a positive health effects, as well.

Attention Restoration