Assessing public attitudes towards sharks using the Implicit Association Test

Abstract

Fear and negative attitudes toward sharks make conservation of the species challenging. Despite the importance of attitudes in shaping public perceptions, little is known about whether they are innate or learned, and no research has explored implicit attitudes toward sharks. In this study, we used the implicit association test (IAT) to measure implicit attitudes towards sharks in a sample of 389 adults living in a coastal U.S. state (North Carolina) and assess demographic correlates of those implicit attitudes. The overall average IAT score was negative (M = −0.11, SD = 0.46), with 62 % of the respondents displaying negative IAT scores and 38 % displaying positive scores. Few demographic differences were observed, although the respondents with college degrees expressed more negative implicit attitudes toward sharks (β= −0.05, SE = 0.02). Future research is needed to determine if and how lifestyles associated with higher educational achievement contribute to negative implicit attitudes toward sharks, even when explicit attitudes are positive. Overall, the study results support the hypothesis of implicit attitudes creating aversion to sharks. Thus, efforts to reduce human persecution of sharks may benefit from acknowledging and addressing these implicit attitudes.