Abstract
People have cultivated plants and other natural elements in urban environments virtually since the advent of the earliest human cities. Recent research in the social sciences suggests that passive interactions with large scale natural environments may have health benefits. These early fmdings with large scale natural environments are consistent with enduring beliefs about the beneficial effects of natural environments, which in turn echo beliefs about the positive effects of horticultural pursuits. This paper describes two general classes of research methods that have been used to investigate the mtential health effects of oassive exmures to natural envikmmen6, methods that have direci applicabfiity to the investigation of similar issues in horticultural environments. The fmt set of methods have been used in the field of environmental aesthetics to measure perceived environmental quality. Several of these specific methods are described and their ap licabiity to horticultural research is highlighted. The second set o /' methods are taken fram the field of pGch6physiology, and have direct relevance for the study of potential health effects of environmental exposures. The emphasis in this section is on the issues involved in drawing inferences about psychological states from the measurement of physiological events.