@article{vaughn_larson_peterson_pacifici_2022, title={Factors associated with human tolerance of snakes in the southeastern United States}, volume={3}, ISSN={["2673-611X"]}, DOI={10.3389/fcosc.2022.1016514}, abstractNote={Conservation of snakes is influenced by humans’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward these often-maligned animals. We investigated public attitudes toward snakes through an online survey of undergraduate students (n = 743) at a large public university in a southeastern U.S. state. We used behavioral intent (i.e., how a person would react if they encountered a snake) to assess tolerance of different snake species. We also examined various predictors of tolerance including demographic attributes and a variety of cognitive (e.g., knowledge, value orientations) and affective (e.g., emotions) social-psychological variables. Tolerance of snakes varied based on whether the snake was venomous or non-venomous: about 36% of students said they were likely to kill venomous snakes they encountered, compared with 9% who said they would kill non-venomous snakes and 21% of students who said they would kill snakes whose identity was uncertain. However, most students (54%) could not distinguish between venomous and non-venomous species. Value orientations and emotions were strong predictors of tolerance for snakes, suggesting snake outreach and management strategies should account for both cognitive and affective antecedents of behavior.}, journal={FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE}, author={Vaughn, Audrey K. and Larson, Lincoln R. and Peterson, M. Nils and Pacifici, Lara B.}, year={2022}, month={Oct} }
 @article{vaughn_peterson_casola_stevenson_pacifici_2021, title={Using the Implicit Association Test to Evaluate Subconscious Attitudes Toward Snakes}, volume={10}, ISSN={["1753-0377"]}, DOI={10.1080/08927936.2021.1986261}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT
 Human fear and antipathy toward snakes make conservation and management of these species difficult, as negative attitudes are not generally linked to public support. However, our understanding of whether such attitudes are innate or learned is limited. In this study, respondents aged 7–76 years completed an implicit association test (IAT) designed to examine implicit attitudes toward snakes (n = 175). Respondents had negative implicit attitudes toward snakes. Parents had more negative implicit attitudes toward snakes than children, but we detected no effects for sex or race/ethnicity, and the overall ability for demographic variables to predict implicit attitudes was low (R2  = 0.035). Approximately, 13% of the overall variance was explained by the random effect for family unit (ρ = 0.132), indicating membership within a given household unit had small effects on the development of implicit biases against snakes. Collectively, these results support the hypothesis that human aversion to snakes is implicit and provide more evidence that aversion may be innate within our biological or cultural memory. Implicit bias training may be critical to mitigate the effects of negative implicit attitudes toward snakes. Although future research is needed to understand socio-demographic correlates of implicit biases against snakes, our results suggest interventions may be crafted without concern about unique responses to snakes across sex and ethnicities.}, journal={ANTHROZOOS}, author={Vaughn, Audrey K. and Peterson, M. Nils and Casola, William R. and Stevenson, Kathryn T. and Pacifici, Lara B.}, year={2021}, month={Oct} }