Can human empathy and connectedness for plants be enhanced?

Sammanfattning: Human attitudes toward nature are fundamental for preserving earth’s ecosystems. This study investigated the malleability of human empathy and connectedness to specific plants. We randomly assigned participants (N = 106, Mean age = 32.7, SD = 16.0) to one of three different induction conditions, and measured trait general empathy and connectedness to nature, as well as state empathy and connectedness to plants before and after participants read one paragraph presenting a specific orientation towards plants. Condition one described decorative plants, condition two described plants responding to the participants, and condition three described participants becoming a plant. Contrary to our hypotheses, state empathy and connectedness to plants increased for all three conditions. There was no effect of gender (male vs females) on the pre- to post-induction increases in state empathy and connectedness for plants. In conclusion, our findings indicate that empathy and connectedness for plants can be enhanced using different induction orientations. This suggests that human-plant interactions may be a good platform for investigating how humans can relate to nature.