Animal psychology research changes public attitudes, but not tolerance, towards a wild carnivore beyond non-psychological information

Abstract

Biodiversity loss is inextricably linked to declining human-nature "connectedness", particularly in terms of how people form attitudes and beliefs about the natural world. Anthropomorphism, or attributing human-like qualities to non-human beings, is an increasingly common conservation strategy to encourage human connectedness to wildlife, but such strategies may also contribute to species' persecution (e.g., "bold" and "cunning" predators). The public often ascribes psychological abilities to wildlife, but there have been limited efforts to link public wildlife attitudes to actual animal psychology research. Through a national level survey (n = 1, 373), we used a controlled experimental approach to test whether providing information on the boldness and problem-solving abilities of a wild carnivore, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), changed people's tolerance of them. Half of participants were given information on fox psychology (video or a press release about fox boldness and problem-solving), the other half were given content unrelated to animal psychology (video or a press release about fox habitat use). While attitudes and beliefs related to overall tolerance were unaffected, our findings suggest that providing the public with information about animal psychology research, particularly through videos, may have a role in shaping human-wildlife connectedness by changing, either positively or negatively, other facets to people's attitudes (e.g., interest factor), and that such effects may be more impactful than information about an animal's basic ecology. If harnessed correctly, animal psychology research could offer a useful and unique platform for generating greater public awareness and engagement with the biodiversity crisis.