Do National Animal Symbols Convey Humanlike Values?

We propose that people attribute humanlike values to animal symbols in a way that reflects the structure of human values and the value priorities that these animals were chosen to convey. In a study of Australian adults, the attribution of humanlike values to kangaroos and emus symbolizing the Australian Commonwealth as a nation moving forward reflected (a) the structure of human values and (b) the prioritization of values that express openness-to-change over maintaining the status quo. The attribution of values to kangaroos and emus was not based on self-projection, suggesting that cultural representations of animals as symbols influence the values that people attribute to them. Further, our study shows that the original representation of the humanlike values of these animal symbols was reflected in both explicit and implicit measures of values, suggesting that such measures can help us understand how people assign meaning to animal symbols.