The Role of Psychology in Human-Wildlife Interaction

With the rapid growth of the city, the barrier between human and animal life grows increasingly translucent each day. The world we inhabit warrants co-existence, not in the form of independent existence, but through interdependence and mutual understanding of different life forms. The role of psychology then becomes crucial in building a healthy relationship with our earthly neighbors. Experts around the world are now looking into the psychological relationship between humans and animals that allows for peaceful coexistence, and are also emphasizing the importance of the psychological view in the modern-day world. A simple exploration of how our attitudes impact wildlife in multitudinous ways highlights the importance of changing people’s attitudes towards animals to a more positive light. 

Despite being a relatively young science, psychology has made massive strides since its birth as a scientific enterprise in the late 19th century. Numerous schools of thought and theories have been proposed by experts all around the world since then, each offering a new perspective to viewing life as we know it. It’s a science that demands discussion, especially since it deals with concepts as abstract as the human mind. The question of whether humans are self-centered, for instance, is one of the most discordant topics in psychology. The struggle between self-preservation and altruism remains characteristic of the human experience, and it marks our thought process as a species. 

This tendency to place ourselves at the center of the world becomes crucial in understanding our relationship with other life forms. 

A very simple example is our relationship with predatory animals such as snakes. Our instinctual fear acts as a reminder of the possible danger they pose and initiates cautionary action. Further societal conditioning, i.e., being repeatedly taught about their potential danger heightens the sense of fear and then leads to violent action towards wildlife, even if in reality the animal did not pose a threat at that moment. We act on fear rather than empathy. 

We are also capable of harboring apathy towards fellow life forms, thereby refusing to take action until or unless a disturbance in their life threatens our quality of life as a species. As a result, conservation and rescue acts driven by empathy aside, our efforts to sustain wildlife and biodiversity have also been motivated by anthropocentric attitudes which are not beneficial to the human-animal relationship in the long run. 

Psychology, then, becomes integral in exploring the attitudes we harbor towards wildlife, both urban and non-urban, and how those attitudes impact our relationship with them and also the lives that animals lead alongside us on earth. An “attitude” in psychology refers to a set of beliefs or views that has an emotional, cognitive, and behavioral component. They are often developed through experience or upbringing and have a powerful influence over our actions. Placing this in the context of wildlife, people’s attitudes, depending on whether they are positive or negative can influence the way they feel towards animals, the way they think of them, and most importantly, can guide their behavior towards animals. 

A questionnaire survey conducted in Poland found that the respondents were divided between having a positive attitude towards urban wildlife and having a negative attitude. Respondents with a positive attitude remarked that they enjoyed seeing wildlife in the city as it made them feel connected to nature and understood that their adaptation to urban habitats was a necessity caused by urbanization. On the other hand, people with a negative attitude generally agreed that wildlife did not belong in cities as they damaged property and posed a threat to humans, and thus they preferred that wildlife be relocated outside the city. A similar study conducted in Malaysia found most of its respondents fostering positive attitudes towards urban wildlife, and this was reflected in the city’s authorities embedding wildlife-friendly ecological principles in city planning.

These studies are particularly important with regards to urban wildlife as they prove that there is a direct correlation between the kind of attitudes people have towards animals and the kind of lives animals lead near human settlements. The COVID-19 pandemic has especially allowed scientists to explore this relationship. Dr. Christian Rutz and his colleagues talk about the “anthropause”, which is the decrease in global human mobility caused by the pandemic. This phenomenon allows for experts to determine the amount of impact human activity has on wildlife, thereby providing guidance on how to adopt a more mutually beneficial relationship with animals.

Conservation psychology with an emphasis on attitude is thus a central component in the strategy to build a more convivial relationship with wildlife. Raising awareness about the ecological importance of these animals and weeding out the fear related to their potential danger is a slow but sure process that can improve human-wildlife interaction. At the end of the day, no matter how our brains may be wired to respond to fellow life forms, mankind cannot afford to live in seclusion from other species. Empathy and compassion are our best bet to building a world stable and supportive enough to enable life to thrive on it.