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Introduction

As urbanization proceeds and has proceeded for centuries, the majority of humanity gets further from and less involved in nature. Nature has long been regarded as a serene environment that vitalizes humanity; however, people are preoccupied with the stresses of their daily lives and focused on completing task after task indefinitely. In the modern United States, a work schedule from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. is commonplace and many employees often have to work overtime or complete other work-related tasks at home. In this cycle, many forsake their mental health to stay afloat financially. Jealousy, although a normal emotion in small amounts, is one of the many emotions that can arise from worsening mental health and can be stronger and more prolonged than is healthy. Subsequently, it is worth re-evaluating our apathy towards this lifestyle and looking for solutions to deteriorating mental health.

Hypothesis

Greater exposure to nature can lead to one experiencing less emotions of jealousy.  Jealousy is a negative mindset that inflicts distress on those who suffer from it. It arises from a variety of circumstances, and there is no sure way to predict which events will cause jealousy and which will not; however, nature provides a soothing effect on the feelings of distress caused by jealousy – or, perhaps, the feelings of jealousy caused by distress – resulting in reduced feelings of envy for those exposed to more nature.

Rationale for Hypothesis

Jealousy is a prominent emotion that appears to everyone at various times of their lives yet it is frequently overlooked and ignored in society. Other negative emotions, like sadness, are socially acceptable to express and normalized. More aggressive negative emotions, like anger, are given the benefit of the doubt and it is assumed that the anger is justified. Conversely, jealousy is almost always viewed as unnecessary and petty and therefore is barely expressed. Consequently, there are no clearly defined ways to alleviate these feelings of envy, and finding a reliable and easily accessible solution will be beneficial in the daily lives of millions.

Operational Definitions

Jealousy:  Also called envy, it is a frustrated or bitter desire for something which another person, or other people, have. The desire could be for someone else’s qualities, material possessions, circumstances, status, or relationships. It is often accompanied by feelings of inferiority.

Nature:  A place where one is surrounded by living plants and animals in their ecosystem in an undeveloped area with no noise pollution from nearby population centers and no trails paved with asphalt.

Loneliness:  A feeling of isolation from one’s community, born out of social rejection or a feeling of emotional distance that causes one to separate themselves.

Mental health:  One’s emotional wellbeing. Positive mental health includes increased feelings of happiness, belonging, and self-esteem. 

Excessively bad mental health:  Persistent feelings of anger, isolation, anxiety, depression, or jealousy. These emotions inhibit someone from properly enjoying their day-to-day life and are consistently experienced for at least three weeks. It can also cause someone to suffer from adverse physiological effects.

Literature Review

The University of Alabama performed a study on the ability of mothers to accurately predict their children’s vulnerability to jealousy in friendships. In the study, the researchers collected data on what caused jealousy in the children and what other emotions the individual children were experiencing on top of their measurements of the mothers’ strength of connection to their children. The researcher found that “there was a significant and positive first-order relation between vulnerability to jealousy and loneliness” (Parker, Nielsen, McDonald, 2016, p. 374). While the participants in this study were children, children still experience the same range of emotions as adults and are thus a valid sample population to predict the outcomes of adults’ vulnerability to jealousy. Since loneliness makes one more vulnerable to jealousy, decreasing a sense of loneliness would logically decrease the perceived amount of envy. 

Similarly, a group at the University of Washington reported the myriad of benefits derived from nature contact. Among those benefits, researchers “have found an association between nature contact and pro-social outcomes” (Frumkin, Bratman, … Wood, 2017). Better social outcomes would decrease loneliness as the participant is more able to positively interact with peers and form friendships. The benefits of nature contact will only increase with greater nature exposure. Due to the previous study’s link of loneliness to envy, it is consequently predicted that greater contact with nature will decrease both the risk of jealousy and current jealousy. 

Additionally, another study published in The Journal of Social Psychology concluded something similar and suggests a potential key to reducing loneliness: nature exposure. In this study, researchers first asked participants to recall moments where they felt socially ostracized. After re-experiencing these moments, one group of participants was shown pictures of nature while the other was shown pictures of urban environments. It was found that “participants who recalled social exclusion and who viewed nature photos, reported significantly higher levels of affect balance, satisfaction of basic emotional needs, and self-esteem, and significantly lower levels of social pain.” (Yang, Wang, Passmore, Zhang, Zhu, Cai, 2020, p. 201). Loneliness can be self-imposed, but more often than not it is a result of social ostracism. As jealousy is caused by desire for something which another person possesses, it is an affliction caused by a social relation and, thus, can be considered a social pain. Therefore, it is highly likely that the viewing of nature will decrease feelings of jealousy similar to how it decreases other forms of social pain. 

Furthermore, researchers in the Philippines measured their participants’ connectedness to nature and “results showed that search for meaning mediated the positive relationship between nature connectedness and mental well-being among persons from the Philippines, suggesting that people who feel involved in the natural aspect of the world continuously strive to search further for their meaning, and may be beginning to discover their place in the vast scheme of things” (Aruta J., p. 1063-1064). If nature connectedness allows people to better understand their place in the universe, it can lessen emotions of jealousy. If one feels more connected to the world around them, they are less likely to wish for a different place in it through coveting or being envious of another person’s circumstances or defining qualities. Thus, a similar procedure to what was defined here would most probably decrease envy.

Finally, a study associated with the National Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineering evaluated the effects of nature in the neighborhood. They asked a sample size of 334 individuals to rate the amount of nature in their neighborhood and then compared that exposure to nature to the participants’ emotional states. They concluded that “being present in the nature-rich areas arguably provide passive stimulation through a feeling of ‘being away’ and a pleasant distraction that diminishes absorption in the past, or fantasies and anxieties about the future” (Sahni, Kumar, 2021, p. 458). If jealousy is present and the envious thoughts are allowed to roam free, one often imagines themselves with those coveted assets or traits, and these fantasies about the future turn resentful as the daydreamer is frustrated over why they’re unlikely to obtain those things, yet someone else has them all. Since exposure to nature alleviates harmful anxieties or fantasies about the future, greater time spent in nature is predicted to lessen feelings of envy.

A cross-lagged study by Xinsheng Jiang and Jinyu Wang tested the correlation between envy and depression. On two occasions spaced fourteen months apart, 260 nonclinical college students were evaluated on their levels of envy and depression. The researchers found that “the contemporary correlation between envy and depression was significant, and the successive correlation was also significant.”  Moreover, they defined depression as “a state of ego helplessness” (Jiang X., Wang J., 2020). Since envy comes from a desire for others' possessions or qualities, over time envy can cause one to feel inadequate without the acquisition of the desired things which another person, or other people, already have. Thus, it is not surprising that the study concluded that envy predicts depression, even though depression does not predict envy (Jiang X., Wang J., 2020, p. 1). For this reason, envy can be viewed as an early warning sign of swiftly deteriorating mental health, and treating overall mental health will most likely alleviate feelings of jealousy as well. Because many aforementioned studies praise nature’s effects on overall mental health and not specifically envy, one can conclude from this study that improving mental health through exposure to nature will decrease envy.

Research Design

A 1,000 participant sample size will be randomly selected from various suburban and urban cities from across the United States. The racial and ethnic backgrounds of the participants will be varied and evenly distributed so as to accurately represent the demographics of the urban and suburban areas involved. Among the sample there will be a roughly equal amount of male versus female participants and also a diverse socioeconomic range. The ages will range from 21 to 45 with an average age in the mid-thirties in order to accurately represent a working population that will likely experience significant amounts of envy and also have the means to transport themselves to somewhere with preserved nature. 

From there, the participants will be assigned to two groups: Group 1 is the control group and makes no changes to their lifestyle, and Group 2 is required to make available enough time to spend 30-45 minutes in nature daily. Group 2 can go to whichever nature reserve or regional park is closest to them so as to not take up too much time from their day and affect other variables that may render the results inaccurate. It is assumed that the transit time to this natural environment is negligible in regards to their daily routine. Both groups are instructed to take mental (or physical, if necessary) notes of when they feel envious throughout the week.

To measure levels of jealousy, the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS), which measures both forms of envy and is used to highlight personality differences, will be used (The Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS), n.d.). Every week over the course of three months, the participants will be tested on the BeMaS scale regarding their emotions of jealousy over that particular past week, and not tested on any jealousy which they may currently feel. It is predicted that those in Group 2, who went for daily nature walks, will report less frequent and less intense feelings of jealousy than Group 1.

This study’s conclusion will be reached through analysis of the results. In order for there to be a correlation significant enough to draw a conclusion, the correlation coefficient must be greater than 0.30 (which is considered a moderate correlation). If there is a significant negative correlation between exposure to nature and score of the BeMaS scale, then it can be concluded that spending more time in nature decreases jealousy.

Works Cited

Parker J., Nielsen B., McDonald K., (2016). Sources and Implications of Maternal Accuracy About Young Adolescents’ Vulnerability to Friendship Jealousy Journal of Research on Adolescence, 26(3), 364–379

Frumkin H., Bratman G., Breslow S., Cochran B., Kahn P., Lawler J., Levin P., Tandon P., Varanasi U., Wolf K., Wood S. (2017). Nature contact and human health: A research agenda. Environmental Health Perspectives, 125(7)

Yang, Y., Wang, L., Passmore, H., Zhang, J., Zhu, L., Cai H. (2020). Viewing nature scenes results in social ostracism. The Journal of Social Psychology, 161(2), 197-215.

Jiang X., Wang J. (2020). The casual relationship between envy and depression: A cross-lagged regression analysis. Social Behavior and Personality, 48(12), 1-9.

Aruta J. (2021). The quest to mental well-being: Nature connectedness, materialism and the mediating role of meaning in life in the Philippine context Current Psychology, 1059-1069

Sahni P., Kumar J. (2021). Exploring the relationship of human-nature interaction and mindfulness: a cross-sectional study. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture, 24 (5), 450-462.

The Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS). (n.d.). Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS). https://bemas-envy-scale.github.io/