Picture a wolf, there’s probably a very distinct image that comes to mind.
Now, picture a babirusa.
If you can’t, you’re not alone. It’s a large boar-like animal that lives in Indonesia. Opinions on wolves and babirusas are at the core of a new study looking at how a person’s identity influences their beliefs.
University of Montana researchers Justin Angle and Alex Metcalf conducted two surveys to answer whether people’s attitudes toward wolves are polarized, and how activating their political identity changes that polarization.
Metcalf says when it comes to conversations about wolves in the media or the legislature, "There's an assumed conflict there that is talked about as if it is always extreme and always there, and that gets reinforced in people's minds."
Surveying residents in states with wolves, Metcalf says they found people’s attitudes about wolves and babirusas are fairly neutral regardless of their political beliefs.
"When we got the results back and we saw what was in the control group, a pretty flat and positive line of attitudes towards wolves across the political spectrum."
But when participants answered questions about political beliefs and then the animals, it was a different story.
"In the treatment group, the line was so dramatically steeper and that it had an effect on both Democrats and Republicans, but just in opposite directions."
Democrats felt strongly positive about wolves, while Republicans felt strongly negative about them. Attitudes on babirusas remained neutral.
Angle says although these results were expected, the severity was not.
"It's surprising to see these effects and how dramatic they are, particularly when they're induced by a pretty minor manipulation to activate political identity."
He says being aware of how identities influence people, is useful for understanding approaches to wildlife management. Metcalf agrees.
"Aldo Leopold has a quote that wildlife management is really people management. And he was right, but we haven't really invested a lot in that space, and so hopefully this does some work to move that forward."
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