Type of Culminating Activity
Graduate Student Project
Graduation Date
Spring 2024
Degree Title
Master of Applied Anthropology
Department
Anthropology
Major Advisor
Kendall House, PhD
Abstract
With the guidance of a 2019 briefing document from the Seattle Aquarium, Zoo Boise created a new type of exhibit signage meant to encourage personal connection with its animals and empathetic engagement that will hopefully translate to more concern for wildlife conservation in zoo visitors. This new signage provides personal information, such as names, birth dates, and life histories, on the individual animals at Zoo Boise. This is in contrast with traditional zoo exhibit signage, which lists impersonal, species-level information alone. In order to test the efficacy of the new signage in eliciting empathetic engagement, we conducted a comparative study comparing the general public’s response to the new biographical signage versus the traditional signage. Empathetic engagement was quantified using a modified version of the Animal Empathy Scale from “Empathy with Animals and with Humans: Are They Linked?” by Paul (2000). We conducted a short digital survey (n = 305) and found via comparison of the mean empathy scores that there was no significant difference in empathetic engagement between any of the exhibit signs utilized in this study (p = 0.15). This indicates that the addition of biographical signage does not significantly influence empathetic engagement in the general public. Additionally, it may indicate that signage alone may not have a significant effect on engagement. Though this by no means invalidates the empathy-based science communication practices outlined in the Seattle Aquarium’s briefing document, it may indicate that science communication methods outside of the usage of signage alone are needed to effectively engage visitors empathetically. Additional research is needed on conservation-focused empathy-based science communication methods in zoological institutions.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Mackenzie R., "Animal Biographies: Measuring the Efficacy of Empathy Adjacent Language" (2024). Boise State Graduate Student Projects. 5.
https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/interdisc_gradproj/5
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