Reimagining habituation: The case for a reciprocal and contextual understanding

Abstract As the frequency and intensity of human–wildlife interactions continue to rise, the process and outcomes of habituation are becoming more important. Commonly defined as ‘…a waning of response to a repeated, neutral stimuli’ or of similar wording, we argue that these conceptualisations of habituation are too simplistic in the context of direct human–wildlife interactions. We argue that much of the habituation literature has been one‐sided (i.e. focused only on the nonhuman) and detriment‐focused, failing to grasp the deep complexities of the process and its implications. We conducted a brief scoping review of the habituation literature to show how the term is being used by whom, and in what context. We sought to explore habituation from a broad disciplinary range and therefore included literature from ethology, behavioural ecology and conservation biology as well as disciplines less represented in mainstream conservation such as multispecies anthropology, political ecology and more‐than‐human geography. Supported by the scoping review, we illustrate that habituation as an outcome of human–wildlife interactions is (1) a nuanced, reciprocal process that is both understood and practised in diverse ways, with potentially negative and positive impacts for both people and wildlife and (2) is shaped by cultural, historical and political–economic contexts. We share four case examples based on our own research that justify and reinforce our arguments for reframing our understanding of habituation. Adopting more reciprocal and contextual conceptualisations of habituation will improve our collective understanding of how it occurs and how to find ways to adapt and coexist. We urge future research to explore these ideas and understandings through different geographical and species contexts and apply additional disciplinary approaches to understanding and managing human–wildlife interactions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.