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Imagining the loss of social and physical place...
Journal article

Imagining the loss of social and physical place characteristics reduces place attachment

Abstract

Place attachment – the cognitive-emotional bond people have to specific places – is associated with various psychological outcomes and behaviors. While it is well-established that both important social as well as physical features determine how strongly people attach to a place, it is largely unexplored how the loss of such features causally affects place attachment. In two online experiments (N1 = 161; N2 = 199), participants were asked to name physical and/or social features of their place of residence that were important to them. Subsequently, we asked participants to imagine the loss of these social or physical features, or the loss of both. Results revealed that imagining the loss of both a physical and a social feature combined resulted in lowest anticipated attachment to the place. Closer data inspection suggests that social features seem more important than physical features. The experiments, introducing a novel experimental manipulation of place attachment, thus provide a systematic, causal test of place characteristics’ influence on place attachment.

Authors

Reese G; Oettler LMS; Katz LC

Journal

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 65, ,

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

October 1, 2019

DOI

10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101325

ISSN

0272-4944

Labels

Fields of Research (FoR)

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