Citation

Carlson SC, Dietsch AM, Slagle KM, Bruskotter JT. Conserv. Biol. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Society for Conservation Biology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/cobi.14003

PMID

36098633

Abstract

As conservation scholars increasingly recognize the critical role of human thought and behavior in determining the persistence of biodiversity across the globe, a growing line of inquiry regarding the validity and comparability of previous applications of core psychological concepts has emerged. Specifically, inconsistent measurement and use of terms such as "attitudes" and "acceptance" have revealed important questions about previous approaches. Given that these concepts differ by definition, yet have been used interchangeably, this study explores what drives differences in people's responses when each concept is operationalized in the context of a contested wildlife species, the gray wolf (Canis lupus). To do so, we used data from a 2014 survey of U.S. residents (n = 1,287) to test how measures of six concepts (i.e., acceptance, attitudes, benefits, risks, [prior] behavior, and behavioral intentions) often employed in the conservation social sciences were related with a broad set of possible explanatory variables. Despite moderate to strong correlations between all concepts measured results revealed considerable variation in their respective relationships with identical explanatory variables. Specifically, although wildlife value orientation (i.e., domination or mutualism) operated fairly consistently across both cognitive and behavioral concepts, the relationship between these six concepts and other factors such as social trust, identification with various interest groups (i.e., hunter, farmer/rancher, environmentalist, animal rights advocate), and political ideology (i.e., liberal vs. conservative) varied considerably. Our findings underscore that differences exist in these measures, which could have serious implications for conservationists integrating social science findings into their decision-making processes if unaware of the theoretical underpinnings of and distinctions between core psychological concepts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

attitudes; risk perception; behavior; conservation social science; stewardship; tolerance; wildlife acceptance capacity; wolves