Monday, January 12, 2009

What frame does the word hunter evoke for folks who are not active hunters themselves?


A frame is a mental image that subconsciously arises when we hear a word or phrase. An example of it's power is "don't think of an elephant" I bet you all saw an elephant in your imagination, even though the statement said don't think of one. I suspect the mental picture of the hunter by a hunter is different than for a non-hunter and way different than an anti-hunter. I'm interested in what the picture is for folks that haven't thought much about hunting.
What do you think? If you could ask a few friends or folks at work I'd be interested in the picture that first pops up.
This is one of the topics at a weekend think tank I'm facilitating at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation this weekend.
Thanks!

1 comment:

  1. Having just read your blog, and not having a chance to specifically ask this of non-hunters, I'll merely pass along what my high school students typically say when they find out I'm a hunter. By the way, these are West Coast, urban kids, so their response is a product of that environment.

    Their picture is of a murderer, a cruel person. "How could you DO that to those poor animals, Mr. Strebler???" they incredulously ask? The vast majority have no concept of what legitimate, fair chase hunting is about, nor do they even remotely see the huge disconnect between their abhorrence of hunting and their readiness to gulp down Big Macs and KFC.

    ReplyDelete