Emotional Meaning and the Cognitive Organization of Ethnozoological Domains

Abstract

This article shows that the cognitive structure of semantic ethnozoological domains is influenced by the culturally constituted affective values of these domains. Data were collected from American undergraduates who free listed the generic constituents of four ethnozoological life‐forms: birds, fish, snakes, and wugs. Participants indicated on each free list which items they liked and disliked, and which single item best represented the life‐form domain. They were also asked whether they liked or disliked the exemplar and the domain. Concordance was found between the attitude toward the life form (i.e., whether it is liked or disliked) and the salience of similarly judged items, and between the attitude toward the life form and the attitude toward the exemplar. Concordance was also found between the attitude toward the exemplar and the salience of similarly judged items. The exemplars of each life‐form domain are highly salient overall, and the proportion of liked and disliked items in the free lists generally corresponds with the attitude toward the life‐form domain. All findings support our hypothesis that emotional meaning and culturally conditioned attitudes play a significant role in the organization of ethnozoological domains.