O modelo da ancoragem como ferramenta para um turismo consciente: o caso da observação de golfinhos

Abstract

Anchoring is a cognitive process that seeks to generate automatic decisions consisting in the fixation of a reference, from which judgments will be simplified and made quickly. This phenomenon has wide application in the economy, but it is still very little explored within conservation. Our objective is to investigate whether anchoring can be applied in an activity with a negative anthropic environmental impact, in order to make it sustainable through a reassessment by the users. Therefore, we assessed the effect of anchoring on users of cetacean watching tourism, an activity that has a negative impact on cetaceans. For anchoring purposes, was used a text referring to the negative impacts caused to cetaceans by observation tourism. The tourists were divided into two groups, an experimental group (N=200), in which anchorage was applied, and a control group (N=200), who were interviewed without anchoring. For data collection, a structured form was used. In the experimental group (95 women; 105 men) it was also analyzed whether anchoring would have a different effect between genders. The anchoring resulted in a negative view of tourists regarding the tour, inducing them to make a favorable decision to the well-being of cetaceans. This is of fundamental importance for the anchoring can be used as a tool to make this activity more sustainable. Furthermore, anchoring had a greater effect on women, which points to greater environmental sensitivity than men. Ultimately, we infer from this study that anchoring is an emerging tool for animal conservation and welfare.