Abstract：
The beneficial effects of nature exposure have been repeatedly documented and encourage frequent and regular contact with nature and especially highlight forests. However, in human history, forests have also been associated with negative emotions such as fear and were seen as dangerous environments. While existing literature could demonstrate that natural environments can evoke fear, the focus was on the explicit perception. Given that research has shown the significance of additional implicit processes in fear-related behaviour, we aim to explore the presence of an implicit fear response to forests. Therefore, in an online study, we investigated the explicit and implicit fear reactions to forests by a Northern German sample of N = 256. Using three explicit measurements, we investigated fear and danger perception on a semantic and visual level of the stimulus category \"forest\" compared to the human-made urban green space \"park\" and the urban setting \"house\". Additionally, we assessed the unconscious response tendencies towards the forest within three implicit tasks: Subliminal Priming Procedure (SPP), Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Within the analyzed sample, the subliminally presented word forest evoked a stronger positive valence response compared to park (SPP). In contrast to houses, the forest showed a stronger approach and weaker avoidance tendency (AAT). At the same time, both the three explicit and one implicit measurement (AMP) showed a stronger fear perception of forests compared to parks or houses. Considering the increasingly utilised beneficial effects of nature in interventions, these findings should be acknowledged when implementing nature exposure in interventions and treatments.
摘要：
自然暴露的有益影响已被反复记录，并鼓励与自然，尤其是突出森林的频繁和定期接触。然而,在人类历史上,森林也与恐惧等负面情绪有关，被视为危险的环境。虽然现有文献可以证明自然环境可以唤起恐惧，重点是明确的感知。鉴于研究表明，额外的内隐过程在恐惧相关行为中的重要性，我们的目标是探索对森林的内隐恐惧反应的存在。因此,在一项在线研究中，我们通过N=256的德国北部样本调查了对森林的显性和隐性恐惧反应。使用三个明确的测量，与人造城市绿地“公园”和城市环境“房屋”相比，我们在刺激类别“森林”的语义和视觉层面上调查了恐惧和危险感知。此外,我们评估了三个内隐任务中对森林的无意识反应倾向：潜意识启动程序（SPP），影响错误归因程序（AMP）和方法避免任务（AAT）。在分析的样本中，与公园相比，潜意识中出现的单词森林引起了更强的正效价反应。与房屋相比，森林表现出更强的接近性和更弱的回避倾向。同时,与公园或房屋相比，三种显式和一种隐式测量都显示出对森林的更强的恐惧感知。考虑到干预措施中越来越多地利用自然的有益影响，在干预和治疗中实施自然暴露时,应承认这些发现.
