Abstract
Potted cyclamens, a popular indoor plant during the winter season, were used in this study. Differences in plant growth status depending on the individuals who cared for them and the responses of human emotion to the plant were examined. Forty-six women (mean age = 46.1) living in Tochigi prefecture were asked to care for potted cyclamens in their homes for three months. Growth and quality varied greatly with the subjects. The plants were classified into five groups depending on their status after three months. Self-evaluation (r = 0.7, p < 0.001), satisfaction (r = 0.61, p < 0.001) and pleasure (r = 0.38, p < 0.012) of the subjects correlated with the growth and quality of the plant in their care. On POMS, the scores for Tension-Anxiety (T-A), Depression-Dejection (D), Anger-Hostility (A-H), and Confusion (C) dropped significantly due to the intervention of the plant into the household, but these scores were slightly increased on the final test after three months. The categories of D and A-H were especially decreased in the group with the best plant quality. On the egograms in the group with the best quality plants, the scores for Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A) and Free Child (FC) were slightly increased, while that of Adapted Child (AC) was decreased. As for the semantic differential technique, factor analysis was performed based on twenty-six semantic differential (SD) scales on sensory evaluation. Among the three extracted factors, ‘comfortable’ and ‘gorgeous’ increased but ‘simple and clean’ decreased with the introduction of the potted cyclamen. The results indicated not only positive effects of potted plants on consumers’ emotions, shown by scores for as D, A-H and ‘comfortable’, but also a certain level of relationship between plant growth and the satisfaction and pleasure of the owner.
