Turkish and German university students’ emotions and protection intentions regarding wolves and wild boars

Abstract

Emotional responses to wildlife can guide human responses to wildlife conflicts. At the same time, responses to wildlife often relate to cultural contexts. In this study, emotions associated with wolves and wild boars were examined in two samples taken from Turkish (N = 637) and German (N = 415) university students. As expected, different patterns of emotional responses emerged in the two samples. For example, while negative emotions such as disgust and anger toward the wild boar were prevalent in the Turkish sample, positive emotions such as joy, surprise, and interest occurred in the German sample. Significant differences between the emotions associated with wolves and wild boars were revealed in both samples. In the Turkish sample, wolves caused stronger fear, joy, and interest, whereas wild boars caused stronger anger and disgust. In the German sample, wolves caused stronger joy, surprise, interest, and sadness, whereas wild boars caused stronger disgust. Fear, however, was expressed toward both wolves and wild boars in both samples. The predictive power of emotions on students’ intentions to protect wild boars and wolves was examined as well as intentions to protect human interests against these animals. Disgust was the strongest (negative) predictor of a protection intention toward the wild boar in the Turkish sample. In the German sample, joy and interest were the emotions that best predicted conservation intentions (positive) for both animals.