The order in which individuals receive information about wildlife may influence their attitude toward wildlife differently. We explored order effects of a threat message that induced more fear versus a suffering message that elicited more compassion on attitude toward wildlife. Specifically, we focused on bats, a risk-laden species also suffering massive mortalities due to a disease affecting bat populations across the United States. We randomly assigned 1,506 U.S. adults to one of eight message conditions as part of a 2 (message order: suffering → threat vs. threat → suffering) × 2 (suffering messages) × 2 (threat messages) between-subjects factorial design or a control (no message) condition. We found a significant two-way interaction between message order and biospheric values on attitude toward bats. For people with high biospheric values, reading a suffering message first led to a more positive attitude than reading a threat message first, whereas reading a threat message first led to a more positive attitude than reading a suffering message first for people with low biospheric values. Compassion but not fear mediated these effects. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

中文翻译：

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害怕但富有同情心？探索威胁与痛苦信息对可怕受害者态度的顺序效应

个人接收有关野生动物信息的顺序可能会不同地影响他们对野生动物的态度。我们探讨了引起更多恐惧的威胁信息与引起对野生动物态度更多同情的痛苦信息的顺序效应。具体来说，我们专注于蝙蝠，这是一种高风险的物种，由于一种影响美国蝙蝠种群的疾病，它也遭受了大量死亡。我们将 1,506 名美国成年人随机分配到 8 个消息条件之一作为 2（消息顺序：遭受→威胁与威胁→遭受）×2（遭受消息）×2（威胁消息）主体间因子设计或控制的一部分（无消息）条件。我们发现信息顺序和生物圈值之间对蝙蝠的态度存在显着的双向交互作用。对于生物圈价值高的人，首先阅读痛苦信息比先阅读威胁信息会导致更积极的态度，而对于生物圈价值较低的人来说，首先阅读威胁信息会导致比先阅读痛苦信息更积极的态度。同情而非恐惧介导了这些影响。提供了理论和实践意义。