On emotions and cooperative behavior for wildlife conservation

Abstract Emotions shape how people relate to wildlife, yet their role in encouraging cooperation for conservation has been largely overlooked in behavioral research. This study explores how emotional responses influence group decisions to support wildlife protection using an online experiment inspired by public goods games, an economic game often used to study cooperation in behavioral economics. A total of 246 participants, recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, were exposed to short video clips designed to trigger either positive or negative emotions. They were then asked to decide how much money to contribute to efforts aimed at conserving one of two species: the grey wolf ( Canis lupus ) or the wolverine ( Gulo gulo ). The results showed that emotions can influence willingness to cooperate, but their effects varied by species. Positive emotional states led to increased support for wolf conservation, while no clear effect was observed for the wolverine. Interestingly, when the same emotion was induced, financial contributions did not differ significantly between the two species. These findings suggest that emotional engagement, through positive messaging, may serve as an effective mechanism to promote cooperative behavior in wildlife conservation initiatives. However, the species-specific differences also highlight the importance of tailoring outreach and policy strategies to the emotional and cultural context surrounding each animal.