Situations that are stressful tend to be less so when people perceive themselves to be in control of them. Having a sense of control provides people with a sense of certainty and understanding of how things work. Similarly, whether people take steps to protect the population of banded leaf monkeys depends, to a significant degree, on whether they believe they have control over the situation.

Therefore, the first step to wildlife conservation is making people aware of the scope and nature of the human-wildlife problem. Next, conservation measures should appear manageable so that it will not stress the person’s coping resource. People are also more likely to response and act in environmentally desired ways when prompts are specifically stated (i.e. “Place this plastic bottle a the trash bin”). To increase the likelihood of a pro-environmental behaviour, conservation measures have to be voluntary rather than mandatory. When people exercise choice, they are in control of their environment.