ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2019
Human Attitude toward Reptiles: A Relationship between Fear, Disgust, and Aesthetic Preferences.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Food taboos and animal conservation: a systematic review on how cultural expressions influence interaction with wildlife species.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2023Pooled it
- Subjective and psychophysiological response to pictures of ancestral and modern threats: Not all evolutionary threats are alike.PloS one · 2026Article
- Human-Chelonian Bond in Italy: An Exploratory Study of Pet Turtle and Tortoise Ownership.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Microorganisms in wild European reptiles: bridging gaps in neglected conditions to inform disease ecology research.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Review
- Evolutionary Trajectories of Consciousness: From Biological Foundations to Technological Horizons.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The effect of fear and compassion on human willingness to protect predators and prey.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Why Are Some Snakes More Terrifying and What Is Behind the Fear?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Hooding cobras can get ahead of other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2024Article
- Interactions between reptiles and people: a perspective from wildlife rehabilitation records.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Animals evoking fear in the Cradle of Humankind: snakes, scorpions, and large carnivores.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2023Article
- Bioecological representations and social characteristics of students influence their attitudes toward wild vertebrates.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2023Article
- WASP: the World Archives of Species Perception.Database : the journal of biological databases and curation · 2023Article
- The bigger the threat, the longer the gaze? A cross-cultural study of Somalis and Czechs.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Environmental enrichment for reptiles in European zoos: Current status and perspectives.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2023Article
- Are vipers prototypic fear-evoking snakes? A cross-cultural comparison of Somalis and Czechs.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Human Health Benefits of Non-Conventional Companion Animals: A Narrative Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Emotions triggered by live arthropods shed light on spider phobia.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- A Survey Study of Veterinary Student Opinions and Knowledge about Pet Reptiles and Their Welfare.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- What are the factors influencing the aversion of students towards reptiles?Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2021Article
- The Ultimate List of the Most Frightening and Disgusting Animals: Negative Emotions Elicited by Animals in Central European Respondents.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Focusing on one group of animals can bring interesting results regarding our attitudes toward them and show the key features that our evaluation of such animals is based on. Thus, we designed a study of human perception of all reptiles focusing on the relationship between perceived fear, disgust, and aesthetic preferences and differences between snakes and other reptiles. Two sets containing 127 standardized photos of reptiles were developed, with one species per each subfamily. Respondents were asked to rate the animals according to fear, disgust, and beauty on a seven-point Likert scale. Evaluation of reptile species shows that people tend to perceive them as two clearly distinct groups based on their similar morphotype. In a subset of lizards, there was a positive correlation between fear and disgust, while disgust and fear were both negatively correlated with beauty. Surprisingly, a positive correlation between fear and beauty of snakes was revealed, i.e., the most feared species also tend to be perceived as beautiful. Snakes represent a distinct group of animals that is also reflected in the theory of attentional prioritization of snakes as an evolutionary relevant threat.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.