Nature contact increases perceived humanness in others

Research on how to increase humanness attribution to others is limited. We hypothesize that nature contact could be one trigger. This hypothesis was confirmed across six studies (N = 1622). Specifically, Study 1 demonstrated that people who could access nature elements in their immediate living environment showed higher levels of humanness perception than those who couldn't. Furthermore, inducing nature contact, including making participants stay in a room with plants (Study 2), situate in a park (Study 3), and imagine contacting nature (Studies 4–6), increased humanness attribution to others. The effect of nature contact on the perception of humanness could be observed not only in interpersonal contexts (Studies 1–3 and 5) but also in intergroup contexts (Studies 4 and 6). Moreover, the effect was mediated by self-transcendence (Studies 5 and 6). Finally, increased humanness attribution due to nature contact further promoted prosociality (Study 6). The theoretical and practical implications were discussed. © 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.