The Big Bad Wolf: The Formation of a Stereotype

In our essay, we explore this image of a stereotypical Big Bad Wolf,\udand we explain how many of the themes, which keep resurfacing in\uddebates about wolves in present-day culture, can be thought of as\udbeing associated with this stereotype. In order to investigate these\udpossible associations, we consider human perceptions of wolf behavior\udand evaluate how these may correspond to attributes associated\udwith immorality or wickedness especially as such human\udcharacteristics are expressed in the Jungian shadow archetype of evil.\udWe further explore how the stereotype of the Big Bad Wolf may be\udcreated through the unconscious merger of actual wolf behavior with\udnotions associated with evil in human beings.\udWe first delineate the agenda of this essay and then provide a short\udoverview of research on human-wolf relations in Central Europe. We\udthen review aspects of wolf biology that may be particularly salient\udand potentially problematic to a peaceful coexistence between\udwolves and humans. Finally, we identify correspondences between\udthose aspects of wolf behavior and the human understanding of what\udconstitutes an evil act and how this correspondence may reinforce the\udconcept of the Big Bad Wolf