Recreational Needs and Behavior in Natural Settings

Abstract

Recent outdoor recreation literature is examined for data potentially useful in describing human linkages with nature. The motivational bases of people's choices of specific natural areas for recreational purposes, and the psychological functions served by outdoor recreation settings, are considered. Principles, concepts, and themes of potential value in constructing a theoretical perspective on how people relate to nature are extracted. People seem to use natural environments largely for their instrumental potential rather than for their innate properties.