Persuaded into Action: Investigating the Most Effective Way to Raise Awareness of Homeless Pets Protection Among Shanghai High School Students

Abstract

According to the White Paper on China’s Pet Industry 2021, the population of raising cats and dogs in China has reached 68.44 million. However, many acquire these pets without giving it much thought, only to later realize that caring for a pet requires significant effort, time, money, and patience. As a result, pet abandonment has become a serious issue. The World Health Organization predicts that around the world, there are about 200 million stray dogs, with China accounting for 40 million or one-fifth of the total. Rapid modernization and urbanization have turned Shanghai into a hub of homeless pets. To address this issue, this paper focuses on changing the attitudes of Shanghai high school students toward animal protection. The study focuses on this particular group since their attitudes represent the future generation, yet there is a lack of research on this topic. The paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the most effective way to raise awareness among Shanghai high school students about the issue of homeless animal protection. To this end, the researcher has devised three types of persuasion methods in a lab setting to compare and contrast the results among Shanghai high school students.