TY - JOUR
T1 - A cross-cultural comparison of the link between modernization, anthropomorphism and attitude to wildlife
AU - Gomez-Melara, Jose Luis
AU - Acosta-Naranjo, Rufino
AU - Izar, Patricia
AU - Sah, Shahrul Anuar Mohd
AU - Pladevall, Jordi
AU - Maulany, Risma Illa
AU - Ngakan, Putu Oka
AU - Majolo, Bonaventura
AU - Romero, Teresa
AU - Amici, Federica
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: We are grateful to the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology for support during this study, to the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades that funded Jose Gómez-Melara (FPU 16/02878) during his PhD, and to the FAPESP (14/13237-1) for funding to Patrícia Izar that allowed access to local communities during this research. We acknowledge support from the Max Planck Society for the opportunity to publish Open Access.
Funding Information:
We are grateful to the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology for support during this study, to the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci?n y Universidades that funded Jose G?mez-Melara (FPU 16/02878) during his PhD, and to the FAPESP (14/13237-1) for funding to Patr?cia Izar that allowed access to local communities during this research. We acknowledge support from the Max Planck Society for the opportunity to publish Open Access.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/11/26
Y1 - 2021/11/26
N2 - Anthropogenic pressure has significantly increased in the last decades, often enhancing conflicts at the human–wildlife interface. Therefore, understanding peoples’ value orientations, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is a crucial endeavour to reduce the occurrence of conflicts between humans and wildlife. Previous research in the USA has shown a consistent link between modernization and increased anthropomorphism (i.e., the tendency to attribute human mental or physical characteristics to other entities), leading to positive changes in value orienta-tions, attitudes, and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. In this paper, we aimed to address whether this link is also present in other cultures, by testing participants (N = 741) in five different countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Spain). Our study shows that while the positive link between anthropomorphism, positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is universal, the link between modernization and anthropomorphism is culturally mediated. In some countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain), modernization increased anthropomorphism, while in others modernization predicted no differences (Brazil) or even a decrease in anthropomorphism (Mexico), ultimately deteriorating individuals’ attitude and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. These results call for caution when generalizing findings from western industrialized countries to inform conservation policies worldwide.
AB - Anthropogenic pressure has significantly increased in the last decades, often enhancing conflicts at the human–wildlife interface. Therefore, understanding peoples’ value orientations, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is a crucial endeavour to reduce the occurrence of conflicts between humans and wildlife. Previous research in the USA has shown a consistent link between modernization and increased anthropomorphism (i.e., the tendency to attribute human mental or physical characteristics to other entities), leading to positive changes in value orienta-tions, attitudes, and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. In this paper, we aimed to address whether this link is also present in other cultures, by testing participants (N = 741) in five different countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Spain). Our study shows that while the positive link between anthropomorphism, positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is universal, the link between modernization and anthropomorphism is culturally mediated. In some countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain), modernization increased anthropomorphism, while in others modernization predicted no differences (Brazil) or even a decrease in anthropomorphism (Mexico), ultimately deteriorating individuals’ attitude and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. These results call for caution when generalizing findings from western industrialized countries to inform conservation policies worldwide.
KW - Anthropomorphism
KW - Attitude
KW - Domination
KW - Modernization
KW - Mutualism
KW - Wildlife
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119988678&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su132313095
DO - 10.3390/su132313095
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119988678
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 13
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
IS - 23
M1 - 13095
ER -