Abstract
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.
Highlights
Chimpanzees are an endangered species across their native range in equatorial Africa [1] but their domestic use in countries like the United States often does not reflect this important conservation designation
There were three levels of media type: those in which the image was presented as a photograph, those presented as a cartoon, and those in which the image was presented as a pencil line drawing
There was a significant main effect of human presence such that those viewing photographs of a chimpanzee standing next to a human, were 35.5% less likely to categorize chimpanzee populations as endangered/declining compared to those viewing photographs with the chimpanzee standing alone (Wald Chisquare = 11.925, p = 0.0006)(Figure 2)
Summary
Chimpanzees are an endangered species across their native range in equatorial Africa [1] but their domestic use in countries like the United States often does not reflect this important conservation designation. In 2008, Ross et al [2] presented survey data that illustrated how the public is less likely to consider chimpanzees as endangered compared to other great ape species. This phenomenon was linked to the prevalent use of chimpanzees in movies, television shows and advertisements, where chimpanzees are often inaccurately displayed. These results were the first to link the manner in which chimpanzees are portrayed in popular media to public attitudes that may influence support for critical in-situ conservation efforts. We describe an experimental survey study that aimed to identify the specific characteristics of media representations of chimpanzees that may influence the public’s perception of this species
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