Developmental factors leading to positive attitudes toward wildlife and conservation

Abstract

Children's emotional and cognitive responses toward domestic and wild animals, reported in recent studies, suggested that their attitudes toward wildlife develop through the same Piagetan developmental stages as their attitudes toward domestic animals and pets. To test this hypothesis, 102 parents and 102 children (3–12 years old) were interviewed at California's Lindsay Museum in Walnut Creek, where they experienced close-up viewing and controlled touching of both wild and domestic animals. The amounts of time the children spent watching and petting, and the number of times they laughed at, smiled at, talked to and about the animals or made rejecting responses were tallied. The data indicate that the 32 3–5 year olds' responses to both the wild and domestic living animals and to the regular museum exhibits were typically egocentric and preoperational. The 30 6–8 year olds' responses showed beginning elements of the empathetic with perspective-taking and concrete operational stages, and in the 40 9–12 year olds' responses these stages were fully developed. These results suggested that the presence of these normal developmental stages should be taken into account by educational institutions planning programs which will provide good experiences and develop positive attitudes in most children toward wildlife and conservation efforts.