Jeff Loucks - Snakes

Jeff Loucks professor of Psychology (Developemental Psychology)

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A study of morethan 100 kindergarten-age children suggests kids tend to think of snakesdifferently than they do other animals and that hearing negative orobjectifying language about the slithery reptiles might contribute to that wayof thinking.

The study also suggests it takesminimal intervention to “inoculate” a child against snake negativity.

The findings, published in Anthrozoös, are important for multiplereasons, explains co-author Jeff Loucks of Oregon State University.

Snakes are reviled in many humancultures but little is known about howchildren develop feelings of fear and vilification toward an animal that plays animportant role in the balance of many ecosystems.

At least 450 of the more than 4,000identified snake species are facing elevated risk of extinction, according tothe International Union for Conservation of Nature, but public support forprotecting them and restoring their habitat is weak – probably because of ageneral societal hatred of snakes.

“Childhood is a critical time forshaping someone’s attitudes and behaviors toward animals,” Loucks said. “Snakeshave a very negative reputation in Western societies and are commonlymisunderstood.”

Loucks, professor of teaching inOSU’s College of Liberal Arts, cites earlier research that shows snakes triggersome level of anxiety in 54% of all people and that the average American has anegative attitude toward snakes.

“Data indicate that it’s common forU.S. drivers to go out of their way to run over a snake,” he said.

Loucks and study leader DenéeBuchko of the University of Regina sought to find the roots of that antipathyand the roles language and education play in its development. The three-partproject involved 5-year-olds, their parents, pictures of snakes and descriptivelanguage that might suggest snakes were more like other animals than inanimateobjects or vice-versa.

The scientists used a techniqueknown as an induction task to assess how similar kids thinksnakes are to humans, to other non-human animals and to non-living things.

“Beforewe gave them this task, we had parents look through a picture book of snakeswith their child, and we also read children a story book about a day in thelife of a snake,” Loucks said. “The story book either referred to the snakesmore like an object – with ‘it’ pronouns and not referencing feelings orthoughts – or more like a person, with ‘she’ pronouns and references to thoughtsand feelings.”

The researchers found that whenparents used negative language when talking about snakes, children wereencouraged to think about snakes as being different from humans. They alsofound that the objectifying language in the storybook had the same effect.

“Something unexpected, though, wasthat kids generally thought that snakes were similar to other non-humananimals,” Loucks said. “So, we did a second study with different subjects, tookaway the picture book and the storybook and just gave kids the induction task.In this case, they did not think that snakes were similar to humans or otheranimals.”

With another set of subjects, Louckand Buchko brought back the picture book and the storybook, and again theyfound that kids thought snakes were similar to other animals but not to humans,replicating the findings from the first part of the research.

“It seems as though 5-year-oldkids, from Western cultures anyway, tend to think that snakes are verydifferent from other animals, and negative and objectifying language mightcontribute to that,” Loucks said. “But some exposure to snakes and learningabout their biological needs can act as an inoculation against negativeattitudes toward snakes, which can help to engender care and respect for theseanimals.”

This research was supported by aNational Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery grant.