Free word association analysis of German laypeople's perception of biodiversity and its loss.

ABSTRACT: Due to the dramatic biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to understand how people perceive biodiversity. Knowledge of how thoughts are organized around this concept can identify which ideas are best to focus on biodiversity conservation information campaigns. The primary aim of the present study was to identify social representations of the German public regarding the concept of biodiversity and its loss using a free word association test. Furthermore, unique association networks were analyzed. For this purpose, data collection was performed in September 2021 in Germany using an online questionnaire to assess participants' associations with the prompt "biodiversity" (n  = 131) and "biodiversity loss" (n  = 130). Additionally, we used the social network software Gephi to create

SUBMITTER: Eylering A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10338174 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature