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Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Today, around one-quarter of all shark species are threatened with extinction, and action is needed to reverse this trend. Several factors are known to influence conservation efforts, among which is their negative perception, which influences the way people perceive and emotionally e...

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Autores principales: Neves, Joao, Giger, Jean-Christophe, Alves, Vasco, Soares, Nuno
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10416988/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37570264
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13152455
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author Neves, Joao
Giger, Jean-Christophe
Alves, Vasco
Soares, Nuno
author_facet Neves, Joao
Giger, Jean-Christophe
Alves, Vasco
Soares, Nuno
author_sort Neves, Joao
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Today, around one-quarter of all shark species are threatened with extinction, and action is needed to reverse this trend. Several factors are known to influence conservation efforts, among which is their negative perception, which influences the way people perceive and emotionally engage with these top predators. Aquariums worldwide play a strong role in this strategy as they host millions of visitors every year and, for many of these, are one of the only chances to see sharks up close and aim to create an everlasting positive perception of these fish. This study tested two different communication strategies to best engage visitors in shark awareness and conservation when visiting an aquarium with sharks. Our results show that, by exposing visitors to the unknown social behaviors of sharks with the help of an interpreter (educator), their perception of these animals slightly improved. Other findings on the potential use of videos as attention grabbers are considered. ABSTRACT: Sharks are commonly depicted as intentionally dangerous predators and are considered a threat by the general public, limiting support for and success of global shark conservation. Following the SCM framework, this study aimed at testing the effect of information on the social lives of sharks alone or paired with circumstantial humor on the participants’ perceived warmth of sharks before visiting an aquarium. The present study took place in a naturalistic setting, allowing testing of the variables in a pseudo-real-world environment where results can objectively help in the implementation of strategies on the ground. A total sample of 303 visitors participated in this study, where three conditions (control: 100; social information: 102; social information with humor: 101) were tested. Results showed that, although mild, it was possible to affect the warmth dimension of the shark’s stereotype, most likely due to the presence of information about the social lives of sharks. This information slightly leveraged the perceived warmth dimension, although still far from the less threatening stereotype as aimed. Results also highlight the possible importance of using videos within the strategic communication and education approaches in aquariums in order to be most effective in challenging the shark stereotype. Limitations and future research ideas are explored.
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spelling pubmed-104169882023-08-12 Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting Neves, Joao Giger, Jean-Christophe Alves, Vasco Soares, Nuno Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Today, around one-quarter of all shark species are threatened with extinction, and action is needed to reverse this trend. Several factors are known to influence conservation efforts, among which is their negative perception, which influences the way people perceive and emotionally engage with these top predators. Aquariums worldwide play a strong role in this strategy as they host millions of visitors every year and, for many of these, are one of the only chances to see sharks up close and aim to create an everlasting positive perception of these fish. This study tested two different communication strategies to best engage visitors in shark awareness and conservation when visiting an aquarium with sharks. Our results show that, by exposing visitors to the unknown social behaviors of sharks with the help of an interpreter (educator), their perception of these animals slightly improved. Other findings on the potential use of videos as attention grabbers are considered. ABSTRACT: Sharks are commonly depicted as intentionally dangerous predators and are considered a threat by the general public, limiting support for and success of global shark conservation. Following the SCM framework, this study aimed at testing the effect of information on the social lives of sharks alone or paired with circumstantial humor on the participants’ perceived warmth of sharks before visiting an aquarium. The present study took place in a naturalistic setting, allowing testing of the variables in a pseudo-real-world environment where results can objectively help in the implementation of strategies on the ground. A total sample of 303 visitors participated in this study, where three conditions (control: 100; social information: 102; social information with humor: 101) were tested. Results showed that, although mild, it was possible to affect the warmth dimension of the shark’s stereotype, most likely due to the presence of information about the social lives of sharks. This information slightly leveraged the perceived warmth dimension, although still far from the less threatening stereotype as aimed. Results also highlight the possible importance of using videos within the strategic communication and education approaches in aquariums in order to be most effective in challenging the shark stereotype. Limitations and future research ideas are explored. MDPI 2023-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10416988/ /pubmed/37570264 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13152455 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Neves, Joao
Giger, Jean-Christophe
Alves, Vasco
Soares, Nuno
Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title_full Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title_fullStr Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title_full_unstemmed Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title_short Focusing on Social Behaviors: Improving the Perceived Warmth of Sharks in an Aquarium Setting
title_sort focusing on social behaviors: improving the perceived warmth of sharks in an aquarium setting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10416988/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37570264
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13152455
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