Using the Implicit Association Test to Evaluate Subconscious Attitudes Toward Snakes

Abstract

Human fear and antipathy toward snakes make conservation and management of these species difficult, as negative attitudes are not generally linked to public support. However, our understanding of whether such attitudes are innate or learned is limited. In this study, respondents aged 7–76 years completed an implicit association test (IAT) designed to examine implicit attitudes toward snakes (n = 175). Respondents had negative implicit attitudes toward snakes. Parents had more negative implicit attitudes toward snakes than children, but we detected no effects for sex or race/ethnicity, and the overall ability for demographic variables to predict implicit attitudes was low (R2 = 0.035). Approximately, 13% of the overall variance was explained by the random effect for family unit (ρ = 0.132), indicating membership within a given household unit had small effects on the development of implicit biases against snakes. Collectively, these results support the hypothesis that human aversion to snakes is implicit and provide more evidence that aversion may be innate within our biological or cultural memory. Implicit bias training may be critical to mitigate the effects of negative implicit attitudes toward snakes. Although future research is needed to understand socio-demographic correlates of implicit biases against snakes, our results suggest interventions may be crafted without concern about unique responses to snakes across sex and ethnicities.