Exploring Empathy: The valence of visitors’ empathy for zoo animals

Authors:

• Devonshire Lokke, Museology Graduate Program
• Chair: Jessica Luke
• Gregory Bratman
• Mary Jackson
• Sarah Brenkert

Abstract:

In the face of intensifying challenges wrought by our global climate crisis, informal science education institutions are embracing missions to repair human-nature relationships, in an effort to inspire environmentally-beneficial behavior change in the public. The purpose of this study was to further explore the pathway of empathy as a mediator between visitor experience and pro-environmental behavior, by more robustly characterizing the nature of human empathy for animals during self-guided zoo visits. The researcher interviewed 40 visitors to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington about their empathy for animals. Study results show that visitors more frequently described experiencing positive affective empathy for animals at the zoo, but more often characterized their motivational empathy for animals’ wild counterparts as negative. Findings reinforce previous research that suggests both empathy fatigue and lack of self-efficacy as major barriers to linking empathy with pro-environmental action. Implications for future research include further exploration of positive and negative empathy for animals as distinct in studies on the experience of zoo visitors. Implications for practice suggest that zoo professionals incorporate empathy best practices into informal interpretation planning, as well as continue pursuing efforts to inspire self-efficacy by offering visitors actionable ways to act on behalf of animals in response to their meaningful, empathetic animal encounters.