Using Animal Portraiture to Activate Emotional Affect

With growing concern for biodiversity loss, conservationists are faced with increased pressure to depict animals in ways that evoke empathy and lead to conservation. In recent years, conservation photographers have called on scientists to assist them in identifying the best ways to depict animals to elicit an emotional response. Collaborating with conservation photographers, we used an original survey experiment with 1,152 participants to answer this call by comparing how individuals respond to traditional wildlife photography and animal portraiture. Those who were exposed to animal portraits reported increased empathy and decreased positive and relaxed emotions. We engage critical anthropomorphism, arguing that it is an essential tool to encourage conservation efforts and that animal portraiture may be an ideal “attention grabber,” after which wildlife images can serve as “educators.” As the first study to make this quantitative comparison, our findings have important implications for conservationists and particularly conservation photographers.