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Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets

Chimpanzees are endangered in their native Africa but in the United States, they are housed not only in zoos and research centers but owned privately as pets and performers. In 2008, survey data revealed that the public is less likely to think that chimpanzees are endangered compared to other great...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ross, Stephen R., Vreeman, Vivian M., Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135618/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21779372
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022050
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author Ross, Stephen R.
Vreeman, Vivian M.
Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.
author_facet Ross, Stephen R.
Vreeman, Vivian M.
Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.
author_sort Ross, Stephen R.
collection PubMed
description Chimpanzees are endangered in their native Africa but in the United States, they are housed not only in zoos and research centers but owned privately as pets and performers. In 2008, survey data revealed that the public is less likely to think that chimpanzees are endangered compared to other great apes, and that this is likely the result of media misportrayals in movies, television and advertisements. Here, we use an experimental survey paradigm with composite images of chimpanzees to determine the effects of specific image characteristics. We found that those viewing a photograph of a chimpanzee with a human standing nearby were 35.5% more likely to consider wild populations to be stable/healthy compared to those seeing the exact same picture without a human. Likewise, the presence of a human in the photograph increases the likelihood that they consider chimpanzees as appealing as a pet. We also found that respondents seeing images in which chimpanzees are shown in typically human settings (such as an office space) were more likely to perceive wild populations as being stable and healthy compared to those seeing chimpanzees in other contexts. These findings shed light on the way that media portrayals of chimpanzees influence public attitudes about this important and endangered species.
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spelling pubmed-31356182011-07-21 Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets Ross, Stephen R. Vreeman, Vivian M. Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V. PLoS One Research Article Chimpanzees are endangered in their native Africa but in the United States, they are housed not only in zoos and research centers but owned privately as pets and performers. In 2008, survey data revealed that the public is less likely to think that chimpanzees are endangered compared to other great apes, and that this is likely the result of media misportrayals in movies, television and advertisements. Here, we use an experimental survey paradigm with composite images of chimpanzees to determine the effects of specific image characteristics. We found that those viewing a photograph of a chimpanzee with a human standing nearby were 35.5% more likely to consider wild populations to be stable/healthy compared to those seeing the exact same picture without a human. Likewise, the presence of a human in the photograph increases the likelihood that they consider chimpanzees as appealing as a pet. We also found that respondents seeing images in which chimpanzees are shown in typically human settings (such as an office space) were more likely to perceive wild populations as being stable and healthy compared to those seeing chimpanzees in other contexts. These findings shed light on the way that media portrayals of chimpanzees influence public attitudes about this important and endangered species. Public Library of Science 2011-07-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3135618/ /pubmed/21779372 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022050 Text en Ross et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ross, Stephen R.
Vreeman, Vivian M.
Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.
Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title_full Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title_fullStr Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title_full_unstemmed Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title_short Specific Image Characteristics Influence Attitudes about Chimpanzee Conservation and Use as Pets
title_sort specific image characteristics influence attitudes about chimpanzee conservation and use as pets
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135618/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21779372
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022050
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