Communicating risk in human-wildlife interactions: how stories and images move minds

Effectively communicating risk is critical to reducing conflict in human-wildlife interactions. Using a survey experiment fielded in the midst of contentious public debate over flying fox management in urban and suburban areas of Australia, we find that stories with characters (i.e., narratives) are more effective than descriptive information at mobilizing support for different forms of bat management, including legal protection, relocation, and habitat restoration. We use conditional process analysis to show that narratives, particularly with accompanying images, are effective because they cause emotional reactions that influence risk perception, which in turn drives public opinion about strategies for risk mitigation. We find that prior attitudes towards bats matter in how narrative messages are received, in particular in how strongly they generate shifts in affective response, risk perception, and public opinion. Our results suggest that those with warm prior attitudes towards bats report greater support for bat dispersal when they perceive impacts from bats to be more likely, while those with cool priors report greater support for bat protection when they perceive impacts from bats to be more positive, revealing 1) potential opportunities for targeted messaging to boost public buy-in of proposals to manage risks associated with human-wildlife interactions, and 2) potential vulnerabilities to disinformation regarding risk.

有效开展风险沟通，对于缓解人兽互动中的冲突至关重要。本研究依托在澳大利亚城市及郊区开展的狐蝠（flying fox）管理争议性公众辩论期间实施的调查实验，发现带有角色的叙事类内容相较于纯描述性信息，更能有效推动公众对各类蝙蝠管理方案的支持，其中包括法律保护、迁地安置以及栖息地修复。本研究采用条件过程分析（conditional process analysis）方法证实，叙事类内容（尤其是搭配配套图像时）之所以能够发挥作用，是因为其可引发情绪反应，进而影响风险感知，最终推动公众形成与风险缓解策略相关的舆论倾向。研究同时发现，公众对蝙蝠的先验态度会影响其对叙事类信息的接收效果，尤其会左右其情感反应、风险感知与舆论倾向的变化幅度。研究结果显示，对蝙蝠持有积极先验态度的群体，在感知到蝙蝠造成影响的可能性更高时，会更支持蝙蝠分散管理；而持有消极先验态度的群体，在感知到蝙蝠带来的影响更为正向时，会更支持蝙蝠保护措施。这一发现揭示了两点关键启示：其一，可通过针对性信息传播提升公众对人兽互动风险管控方案的认可度，从而创造精准施策的潜在空间；其二，相关风险沟通场景也存在被虚假信息利用的潜在漏洞。