Cognitive foundations of public attitudes towards hunting in South Africa and its implications for communicating with the public about hunting

Legal regulated hunting as a wildlife management tool in South Africa has come under increasing scrutiny in recent decades. As this discourse plays out in the public arena it is imperative for wildlife agencies to understand... [ view full abstract ]

Legal regulated hunting as a wildlife management tool in South Africa has come under increasing scrutiny in recent decades. As this discourse plays out in the public arena it is imperative for wildlife agencies to understand public attitudes towards hunting and to effectively communicate with the public about hunting. Towards this aim I used theory of reasoned action to investigate the cognitive foundation on which different attitudes towards hunting amongst members of the South African public are based, and to provide guidance with respect to developing public communication strategies. Based on the conceptual framework and prescribed procedures of the theory of reasoned action, two consecutive and methodologically interrelated surveys were conducted amongst members of the public in South Africa. Together, the two surveys identified the key underlying salient beliefs on which members of the public base their attitudes towards hunting, and examined how those key salient beliefs are combined to form the cognitive foundations on which different levels of public support for and opposition to hunting are based. The results highlights a number of fundamental differences in the cognitive foundations on which strong proponents of hunting, strong antagonists of hunting, and the segment of the public with moderate attitudes towards hunting base their attitudes. The findings further highlight important characteristics of the cognitive foundations of strong attitudes towards hunting. Compared to moderate attitudes, strong attitudes were found to be non-ambivalent and based on a biased and unilateral set of salient beliefs that are held with great conviction and certainty, making strong attitudes very resistant to change. Public communication efforts would thus be most effective if it is designed to resonate with the segment of the public with moderate attitudes towards hunting. Furthermore, the research findings provide guidance with respect to effectively communicating with the public about hunting in that it specifies the particular salient beliefs that must be addressed in order to broaden the base of public acceptance of hunting.