The inescapable effects of superstition and sacrifice on crimes against wildlife
Abstract
This manuscript discusses crimes against wildlife through the lenses of two cultural perspectives: superstition and sacrifice. Why do people still buy/consume endangered animals/animal parts in current times? Whether for use in rituals, amulets, or culinary arts, wild animals are poached every day around the world. What can be done to change this reality? It is necessary to change the logic of “everybody's property is nobody's property,” The Tragedy of the Commons can shed light on this issue. An application of the current knowledge based on the reasons for the consumption of wild animals/wild animal products indicates that there is not a single solution to this problem. It is necessary to transform behavior as a result of education, which will lead to social change.
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Implications of color vary across cultures in folkloric stories featuring wildlife and domestic animals.
“Implications of color vary across cultures in folkloric stories featuring both wildlife and domestic animals (de Farias, 2020).”
From Of Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs (2024) · cites this paper as de Farias, 2020
Cites
Keep Your Fingers Crossed!: How Superstition Improves Performance
Damisch, L., Stoberock, B., & Mussweiler, T. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610372631 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
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Li, S., Zhang, Z., Liu, Y., & Ng, S. (2021) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.21552 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“Social factors include one's community connection, media exposure, and cultural influence, to name a few (Farias, 2020; Wachinger et al., 2013; Wahlberg & Sjoberg, 2000; Yoganathan et al., 2021).”
BackgroundOf Rarity and Symbolism: Understanding Human Perceptions of Charismatic Color Morphs
Williams, T. D., Kreling, S. E. S., Stanton, L. A., Wilkinson, C. E., Estien, C. O., Schell, C. J., & Carlen, E. J. (2024) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10745-024-00492-7 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
A Quantitative Examination of Half-Belief in Superstition
Caspi, A., Shmuel, E., & Chajut, E. (2023) · Journal of Individual Differences · doi:10.1027/1614-0001/a000401 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Superstitious conditioning shapes the illusory experience of free will under causal determinism
Kansala, C., Cicek, E., Nkansah-Okoree, V., Golding, A. W., Murugan, N. J., & Rouleau, N. (2026) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2026.1832135
“Consider the naturalistic examples of rainmaking (Moore and Burgess, 2011; Seneviratna, 1984) and animal sacrifice (De Farias, 2020), which are sometimes observed together (Larson, 1966).”
The impact of superstitions on practices with Cururu toads in Brazil
Aranha, N., Rebouças, R., & Toledo, L. F. (2025) · Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment · doi:10.1080/01650521.2025.2462385
“It was also possible to observe that at least 85% of the online publications were related to the use of toads for ritualistic purposes, linked to cultural perspectives such as super-stitions and contemporary religions (De Farias 2020).”
Ullah, S., Manan, S., & Rais, M. (2024) · Human Dimensions of Wildlife · doi:10.1080/10871209.2024.2390002
“Superstitious beliefs about cancer prevention, back pain relief, and aphrodisiac properties of medicines made from body parts of tigers and black bears facilitate wildlife trade in Asia (Farias, 2020).”
Mestaoui, I., Murray, J., & Zouaoui, H. (2024) · Journal of Marketing Management · doi:10.1080/0267257x.2024.2406941
“These beliefs and representations are built through mass culture (Bouchard, 2017; Farias, 2020).”
- Authors
- de Farias, S. A.
- Affiliations
- Department of Administrative Sciences, Institute of International Business Federal University of Pernambuco – UFPE/GSU Recife Pernambuco Brazil
- Venue
- Psychology & Marketing
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1656-1663
- ISSN
- 0742-6046 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-6793
- OpenAlex
- W3112807197
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Marketing (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- Funders
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (302893/2018‐0)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
- Social Sciences › Law › Animal Law and Welfare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Animal and Plant Science Education
- Keywords
- wildlife crime, poaching, superstition, animal sacrifice, wildlife consumption, threatened species, wildlife products, ritual, amulets, tragedy of the commons, social change, cultural perspective
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