In love with sunsets? New research explains why we like them & other ‘ephemeral phenomena’

The researchers set out to close this gap by using the latest computer graphics to show carefully controlled images of both urban and natural environments to more than 2,500 participants. The participants found these scenes to be substantially more beautiful when they featured elements like sunrise and sunset than when they were viewed under sunny conditions at other times of the day.

Interestingly, the research also revealed that these ephemeral phenomena elicited awe. The feeling of awe is a difficult emotion to trigger, and research indicates that it has the potential to improve mood, enhance positive social behaviour, and increase positive emotions.

Apart from sunrises and sunsets, the paper published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology also considered rarer events like rainbows, rainstorms and starry and moonlit skies. All of these phenomena altered the extent to which the participants experienced beauty and awe in different landscapes.

More importantly, these changes were also behind variations in how the environments were valued. The researchers assessed this by asking participants how much they would be willing to pay to experience each scene in the real world. They found that participants were prepared to pay a premium of nearly 10 per cent to visit a natural setting at sunrise compared to under blue skies.

According to the research team, this kind of added value is normally attributed to more permanent features like scenic lakes or historic buildings. This suggests that encouraging people to experience sunsets and sunrises could help boost well-being and could be used as part of green prescribing, where nature plays a therapeutic role in mental health treatment.