Cognitive Dimensions of Wilderness Solitude

Abstract

Information-processing theory is offered as a basis for understanding the issue of solitude and the many realms of privacy humans seek during wilderness experiences. It is suggested that wilderness users do not mean complete isolation when they speak of wilderness solitude, but rather, an environmental situation in which they have some control over the information they must process and the attention required of them to process it. An empirical test involving 109 wilderness campers lends support to the theory. Factor analysis of twenty items characterizing various aspects of wilderness solitude resulted in four factors, in which the "natural environment" that provides an element of "cognitive freedom" was found most important.