The impact of subtle anthropomorphism on gender differences in learning conservation ecology in Indonesian school children

ABSTRACT

Education plays an important role in developing positive conservation behavior in future generations. We promote the use of subtle anthropomorphism within a children's storybook as an effective method of increasing ecological knowledge of a target primate species. We delivered an education programme to 170 children in Indonesia from wherein we tested ecological knowledge across gender toward the species before and after exposure to a mildly anthropomorphized storybook. Following the programme, participants of both genders significantly increased their use of accurate ecology terms (Z = −3.01, p = 0.003). Anthropomorphic terms are markedly altered from human adjectives in females and verbs in males toward accurate ecological terms. If used correctly and in correspondence with accurate ecological representations of a species, subtle anthropomorphism can aid in increasing empathy and knowledge in education programmes.

Acknowledgments

We conducted this study in collaboration and under the supervision of RISTEK and LIPI (the Indonesian Institute of Sciences). We thank W. Wirdateti and M. A. Imron for their valuable contributions to our research programme. We thank S. Lowe for illustrating the book and associated materials and I. Iryantoro for translating the text into Bahasa Indonesia. We thank the teachers and students of the school districts of Garut and Tasikmalaya for their participation in the project. We would like to extend a special thank you to A. Weldon for her research and organizational help with the data. We thank members of our field team who contributed to the data collection and teaching for this study, including: D. Ahmed, L. Beasley, S. Listina, S. Rakim, D. Rustandi, D. Spaan, W. Tarniwan, and A. Zalaeny.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Zoo Augsburg, Amersfoort Zoo, Brevard Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland Zoo Society, Columbus Zoo, Cotswold Wildlife Park, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, International Primate Protection League, Lush Charity Pot, Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (152511813), National Geographic Society (GEFNE 101-13), Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, People's Trust for Endangered Species, Phoenix Zoo, Primate Action Fund, and Shaldon Wildlife Trust.