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Fear of Wolves and Bears: Physiological Responses and Negative Associations in a Swedish Sample

Flykt, Anders ; Johansson, Maria LU orcid ; Karlsson, Jens ; Lindeberg, Sofie and Lipp, Ottmar V (2013) In Human Dimensions of Wildlife 18(6). p.416-434
Abstract
Human fear is important in wildlife management, but self-reported fear provides only partial information about fear reactions. Thus, eye movements, skin conductance, and changes in heart rate were assessed during picture viewing, visual search, and implicit evaluation tasks. Pictures of bears, wolves, moose, and hares were presented to participants who self-reported as fearful of bears (n = 8), fearful of bears and wolves (n = 15), or not fearful of bears or wolves (n = 14). The feared animal was expected to elicit strong physiological responses, be dwelled upon, and be associated with negative words. Independent of fearfulness, bear pictures elicited the strongest physiological responses, and wolf pictures showed the strongest negative... (More)
Human fear is important in wildlife management, but self-reported fear provides only partial information about fear reactions. Thus, eye movements, skin conductance, and changes in heart rate were assessed during picture viewing, visual search, and implicit evaluation tasks. Pictures of bears, wolves, moose, and hares were presented to participants who self-reported as fearful of bears (n = 8), fearful of bears and wolves (n = 15), or not fearful of bears or wolves (n = 14). The feared animal was expected to elicit strong physiological responses, be dwelled upon, and be associated with negative words. Independent of fearfulness, bear pictures elicited the strongest physiological responses, and wolf pictures showed the strongest negative associations. The bear-fearful group showed stronger physiological responses to bears. The bear- and wolf-fearful group showed more difficulty in associating bears with good words. Presence of a feared animal in the search task, resulted in prolonged response time. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
bear fear heart rate implicit association test reaction times skin conductance visual search wolf
in
Human Dimensions of Wildlife
volume
18
issue
6
pages
416 - 434
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:84887170346
ISSN
1533-158X
DOI
10.1080/10871209.2013.810314
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Environmental Psychology (011036009)
id
c6decec1-d982-4e57-a18c-2aafd7e6c3a2 (old id 4358565)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:14:34
date last changed
2024-01-07 10:56:53
@article{c6decec1-d982-4e57-a18c-2aafd7e6c3a2,
  abstract     = {{Human fear is important in wildlife management, but self-reported fear provides only partial information about fear reactions. Thus, eye movements, skin conductance, and changes in heart rate were assessed during picture viewing, visual search, and implicit evaluation tasks. Pictures of bears, wolves, moose, and hares were presented to participants who self-reported as fearful of bears (n = 8), fearful of bears and wolves (n = 15), or not fearful of bears or wolves (n = 14). The feared animal was expected to elicit strong physiological responses, be dwelled upon, and be associated with negative words. Independent of fearfulness, bear pictures elicited the strongest physiological responses, and wolf pictures showed the strongest negative associations. The bear-fearful group showed stronger physiological responses to bears. The bear- and wolf-fearful group showed more difficulty in associating bears with good words. Presence of a feared animal in the search task, resulted in prolonged response time.}},
  author       = {{Flykt, Anders and Johansson, Maria and Karlsson, Jens and Lindeberg, Sofie and Lipp, Ottmar V}},
  issn         = {{1533-158X}},
  keywords     = {{bear fear heart rate implicit association test reaction times skin conductance visual search wolf}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{416--434}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Human Dimensions of Wildlife}},
  title        = {{Fear of Wolves and Bears: Physiological Responses and Negative Associations in a Swedish Sample}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2013.810314}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/10871209.2013.810314}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}