@article{ref1,
title="Communicating risk in human-wildlife interactions: how stories and images move  minds",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2020",
author="Guenther, Sara K. and Shanahan, Elizabeth A.",
volume="15",
number="12",
pages="e0244440-e0244440",
abstract="Effectively communicating risk is critical to reducing conflict in human-wildlife  interactions. Using a survey experiment fielded in the midst of contentious public  debate over flying fox management in urban and suburban areas of Australia, we find  that stories with characters (i.e., narratives) are more effective than descriptive  information at mobilizing support for different forms of bat management, including  legal protection, relocation, and habitat restoration. We use conditional process  analysis to show that narratives, particularly with accompanying images, are  effective because they cause emotional reactions that influence risk perception,  which in turn drives public opinion about strategies for risk mitigation. We find  that prior attitudes towards bats matter in how narrative messages are received, in  particular in how strongly they generate shifts in affective response, risk  perception, and public opinion. Our results suggest that those with warm prior  attitudes towards bats report greater support for bat dispersal when they perceive  impacts from bats to be more likely, while those with cool priors report greater  support for bat protection when they perceive impacts from bats to be more positive,  revealing 1) potential opportunities for targeted messaging to boost public buy-in  of proposals to manage risks associated with human-wildlife interactions, and 2)  potential vulnerabilities to disinformation regarding risk.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0244440",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244440"
}