People might finally be starting to fear sharks less. Photo: Chase Baker // Unsplash
It’s hard to overstate how much Jaws has had an affect on people’s perception of sharks. Though the film is a cinematic masterpiece (and invented the summer blockbuster in the process), it perpetuated negative stereotypes about shark behavior, and still manages to stoke the fears of beachgoers to this day. However, according to a new study, people’s perceptions of the admittedly deadly ocean predators may be softening a little.
In a new study published in the journal Wildlife Research, an international team led by researchers from the University of South Australia asked people to provide three words they associated with sharks. They asked 371 participants, who ended up providing 1,006 words that the researchers analyzed with both automated statistical tools and good old fashioned human analysis.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, fear was still the most prevalent emotional response, comprising roughly 30 percent of responses. However, joy was the second, at around 17 percent. Roughly two thirds of the responses could be classified as neutral, mostly related to ecological or biological knowledge of sharks, rather than emotional. The remaining third was roughly split between positive and negative responses.
“The findings highlight that public perceptions of sharks are more nuanced than the stereotypical ‘menacing predator’ narrative often seen in the media,” UniSA environmental scientist and lead author Dr. Brianna Le Busque told Phys.org. “While fear was a common theme, we also saw a substantial number of positive words, like ‘majestic,’ ‘beautiful’ and ‘fascinating.’ This mix suggests that while fear persists, many people also recognize sharks as ecologically important and awe-inspiring animals.”
