DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xnb
title: Effects of relational and instrumental messaging on human perception of rattlesnakes

description: We tested the effects of relational and instrumental message strategies on
 US residents’ perception of rattlesnakes—animals that tend to generate
 feelings of fear, disgust, or hatred but are nevertheless key members of
 healthy ecosystems. We deployed an online survey to social media users
 (n=1,182) to describe perceptions of rattlesnakes and assess the change
 after viewing a randomly selected relational or instrumental video
 message. An 8–item, pre– and post– Rattlesnake Perception Test (RPT)
 evaluated perception variables along emotional, knowledge, and behavioral
 gradients on a 5–point Likert scale; the eight responses were combined to
 produce an Aggregate Rattlesnake Perception (ARP) score for each
 participant. We found that people from Abrahamic religions (i.e.,
 Christianity, Judaism, Islam) and those identifying as female were
 associated with low initial perceptions of rattlesnakes, whereas agnostics
 and individuals residing in the Midwest region and in rural residential
 areas had relatively favorable perceptions. Overall, both videos produced
 positive changes in rattlesnake perception, although the instrumental
 video message led to a greater increase in ARP than the relational
 message. The relational message was associated with significant increases
 in ARP only among females, agnostics, Baby Boomers (age 57–75), and
 Generation–Z (age 18–25 to exclude minors). The instrumental video message
 was associated with significant increases in ARP, and this result varied
 by religious group. ARP changed less in those reporting prior experience
 with a venomous snake bite (to them, a friend, or a pet) than in those
 with no such experience. Our data suggest that relational and instrumental
 message strategies can improve people’s perceptions of unpopular and
 potentially dangerous wildlife, but their effectiveness may vary by
 gender, age, religious beliefs, and experience. These results can be used
 to hone and personalize communication strategies to improve perceptions of
 unpopular wildlife species.
description: This README file was generated on 2024-03-18 by Zackary Graham. GENERAL
 INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Effects of relational and instrumental
 messaging on human perception of rattlesnakes 2. Author Information A.
 Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Zackary J. Loughman
 Institution: West Liberty University Address: West Liberty, WV, USA Email:
 [zloughman@westliberty.edu](mailto:zloughman@westliberty.edu) 3. Date of
 data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2020-2022 4.
 Geographic location of data collection: Online Survey 5. Information about
 funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Herpteological
 Society SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 6. Licenses/restrictions placed on the
 data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain 7. Links to publications
 that cite or use the data: 8. Links to other publicly accessible locations
 of the data: None 9. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None 10.
 Was data derived from another source? No A. If yes, list source(s): NA
 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: A) Rattlesnake_perception_data1 B)
 Rattlesnake_perception_data2 C) Rattlesnake_perception_data3 D)
 Rattlesnake_perception_data4 E) Rattlesnake_perception_data5 1.
 Relationship between files, if important: None 2. Additional related data
 collected that was not included in the current data package: None 3. Are
 there multiple versions of the dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that
 was updated: NA i. Why was the file updated? NA ii. When was the file
 updated? NA
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Rattlesnake_perception_data1 1. Number of
 variables: 28 2. Number of cases/rows: 1354 3. Variable List: * id: unique
 identifier for each participant * q1.pre-q8.pre: score on question
 rattlesnake pereception survey questions (1-8) before video treatment. *
 local.rattlesnakes: score for whether rattlesnakes are local to the
 participants area (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * wild.encounter:
 score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been enountered by the
 particiapnt in the wild (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) *
 captive.encounter: score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been
 enountered by the particiapnt in captivity (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont
 know) * snake.bite: score for whether particiapnt has ever been bitten by
 a snake (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * bite.combine: combined
 variable that determines whether a partiicapnt or someone a particiapnt
 knows has been bitten by a rattlesnake (1 = no, 2 = yes) * bite.victim:
 variable that indicates who was bitten by a rattlesnake (f = friend, p =
 pet, y = yourself, n/a = not applicable) * bite.pet.yourself: variable
 that indiicates if the particiaptn has been bitten by a rattelsnake (yes =
 yes, no = no). * treatment: variable that what treatment video that
 particiapnt has recieved (e = relational, s = instrumental) *
 q1.post-q8.post: score on question rattlesnake pereception survey
 questions (1-8) after video treatment. * total.pre: total score for
 question 1-8 before rattlesnake survey * total.post: total score for
 question 1-8 after rattlesnake survey * diff: difference in score
 calculating from subtracting total.pre from total.post 4. Missing data
 codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Rattlesnake_perception_data2 1. Number of
 variables: 28 2. Number of cases/rows: 713 3. Variable List: * id: unique
 identifier for each participant * q1.pre-q8.pre: score on question
 rattlesnake pereception survey questions (1-8) before video treatment. *
 local.rattlesnakes: score for whether rattlesnakes are local to the
 participants area (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * wild.encounter:
 score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been enountered by the
 particiapnt in the wild (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) *
 captive.encounter: score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been
 enountered by the particiapnt in captivity (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont
 know) * snake.bite: score for whether particiapnt has ever been bitten by
 a snake (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * bite.combine: combined
 variable that determines whether a partiicapnt or someone a particiapnt
 knows has been bitten by a rattlesnake (1 = no, 2 = yes) * bite.victim:
 variable that indicates who was bitten by a rattlesnake (f = friend, p =
 pet, y = yourself, n/a = not applicable) * bite.pet.yourself: variable
 that indiicates if the particiaptn has been bitten by a rattelsnake (yes =
 yes, no = no). * treatment: variable that what treatment video that
 particiapnt has recieved (e = relational, s = instrumental) *
 q1.post-q8.post: score on question rattlesnake pereception survey
 questions (1-8) after video treatment. * total.pre: total score for
 question 1-8 before rattlesnake survey * total.post: total score for
 question 1-8 after rattlesnake survey * diff: difference in score
 calculating from subtracting total.pre from total.post 4. Missing data
 codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Rattlesnake_perception_data3 6. Number of
 variables: 28 7. Number of cases/rows: 345 8. Variable List: * id: unique
 identifier for each participant * q1.pre-q8.pre: score on question
 rattlesnake pereception survey questions (1-8) before video treatment. *
 local.rattlesnakes: score for whether rattlesnakes are local to the
 participants area (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * wild.encounter:
 score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been enountered by the
 particiapnt in the wild (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) *
 captive.encounter: score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been
 enountered by the particiapnt in captivity (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont
 know) * snake.bite: score for whether particiapnt has ever been bitten by
 a snake (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * bite.combine: combined
 variable that determines whether a partiicapnt or someone a particiapnt
 knows has been bitten by a rattlesnake (1 = no, 2 = yes) * bite.victim:
 variable that indicates who was bitten by a rattlesnake (f = friend, p =
 pet, y = yourself, n/a = not applicable) * bite.pet.yourself: variable
 that indiicates if the particiaptn has been bitten by a rattelsnake (yes =
 yes, no = no). * treatment: variable that what treatment video that
 particiapnt has recieved (e = relational, s = instrumental) *
 q1.post-q8.post: score on question rattlesnake pereception survey
 questions (1-8) after video treatment. * total.pre: total score for
 question 1-8 before rattlesnake survey * total.post: total score for
 question 1-8 after rattlesnake survey * diff: difference in score
 calculating from subtracting total.pre from total.post 9. Missing data
 codes: None 10. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Rattlesnake_perception_data4 1. Number of
 variables: 28 2. Number of cases/rows: 369 3. Variable List: * id: unique
 identifier for each participant * q1.pre-q8.pre: score on question
 rattlesnake pereception survey questions (1-8) before video treatment. *
 local.rattlesnakes: score for whether rattlesnakes are local to the
 participants area (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * wild.encounter:
 score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been enountered by the
 particiapnt in the wild (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) *
 captive.encounter: score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been
 enountered by the particiapnt in captivity (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont
 know) * snake.bite: score for whether particiapnt has ever been bitten by
 a snake (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * bite.combine: combined
 variable that determines whether a partiicapnt or someone a particiapnt
 knows has been bitten by a rattlesnake (1 = no, 2 = yes) * bite.victim:
 variable that indicates who was bitten by a rattlesnake (f = friend, p =
 pet, y = yourself, n/a = not applicable) * bite.pet.yourself: variable
 that indiicates if the particiaptn has been bitten by a rattelsnake (yes =
 yes, no = no). * treatment: variable that what treatment video that
 particiapnt has recieved (e = relational, s = instrumental) *
 q1.post-q8.post: score on question rattlesnake pereception survey
 questions (1-8) after video treatment. * total.pre: total score for
 question 1-8 before rattlesnake survey * total.post: total score for
 question 1-8 after rattlesnake survey * diff: difference in score
 calculating from subtracting total.pre from total.post 4. Missing data
 codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Rattlesnake_perception_data5 1. Number of
 variables: 28 2. Number of cases/rows: 656 3. Variable List: * id: unique
 identifier for each participant * q1.pre-q8.pre: score on question
 rattlesnake pereception survey questions (1-8) before video treatment. *
 local.rattlesnakes: score for whether rattlesnakes are local to the
 participants area (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * wild.encounter:
 score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been enountered by the
 particiapnt in the wild (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) *
 captive.encounter: score for whether rattlesnakes have ever been
 enountered by the particiapnt in captivity (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont
 know) * snake.bite: score for whether particiapnt has ever been bitten by
 a snake (0 = no, 1 = yes, 2 = i dont know) * bite.combine: combined
 variable that determines whether a partiicapnt or someone a particiapnt
 knows has been bitten by a rattlesnake (1 = no, 2 = yes) * bite.victim:
 variable that indicates who was bitten by a rattlesnake (f = friend, p =
 pet, y = yourself, n/a = not applicable) * bite.pet.yourself: variable
 that indiicates if the particiaptn has been bitten by a rattelsnake (yes =
 yes, no = no). * treatment: variable that what treatment video that
 particiapnt has recieved (e = relational, s = instrumental) *
 q1.post-q8.post: score on question rattlesnake pereception survey
 questions (1-8) after video treatment. * total.pre: total score for
 question 1-8 before rattlesnake survey * total.post: total score for
 question 1-8 after rattlesnake survey * diff: difference in score
 calculating from subtracting total.pre from total.post 4. Missing data
 codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 \#########################################################################