The fear factor: examining the impact of fear on vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs.

IF 2.4 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Psychology & Health Pub Date : 2024-07-25 DOI:10.1080/08870446.2024.2381235

Daniel Jolley, Lee Shepherd, Anna Maughan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: While anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs can reduce vaccine intentions, longitudinal research shows that vaccine hesitancy can increase conspiracy beliefs. In three experiments (N = 949), we examined the effect of fear about a vaccine on vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs.

Method and measures: In Studies 1a (N = 221) and 1b (N = 508), participants were exposed to high fear (vs low fear) about a (fictional) vaccine before reporting vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. In Study 2, all participants were exposed to high fear before being asked to think about not getting vaccinated (vs vaccinated) against the (fictional) disease. Participants then reported their vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and closeness to others who distrust official narratives.

Results: In Studies 1a and 1b, exposure to high fear (vs low fear) increased vaccine hesitancy, which was positively correlated with anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. The reverse model's effect was either smaller (Study 1a) or non-significant (Study 1b). In Study 2, fear and not wanting to vaccinate resulted in vaccine hesitancy, which then predicted anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and feeling closer to those distrusting official narratives.

Conclusion: Therefore, fear creates a response not to get vaccinated. A conspiracy belief may then justify this response.

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恐惧因素：研究恐惧对疫苗犹豫不决和反疫苗阴谋信念的影响。

目的：反疫苗阴谋信念会降低疫苗接种意向，而纵向研究表明，疫苗接种犹豫会增加阴谋信念。在三个实验中（N = 949），我们研究了对疫苗的恐惧对疫苗犹豫不决和反疫苗阴谋信念的影响：在研究 1a (N = 221) 和研究 1b (N = 508)中，参与者在报告疫苗犹豫不决和反疫苗阴谋信念之前暴露于对（虚构的）疫苗的高度恐惧（与低度恐惧）。在研究 2 中，所有参与者在被要求考虑不接种（与接种）（虚构的）疾病疫苗之前，都暴露于高度恐惧之中。然后，参与者报告他们的疫苗犹豫不决、反疫苗阴谋信念以及与不信任官方说法的人的亲近程度：在研究 1a 和 1b 中，暴露于高度恐惧（相对于低度恐惧）会增加疫苗接种的犹豫性，而这种犹豫性与反疫苗阴谋信念呈正相关。反向模型的影响要么较小（研究 1a），要么不显著（研究 1b）。在研究 2 中，恐惧和不想接种疫苗导致了对疫苗的犹豫不决，进而预示了反疫苗阴谋论信念和与那些不相信官方说法的人更接近的感觉：因此，恐惧会产生不接种疫苗的反应。因此，恐惧会产生不接种疫苗的反应，而阴谋论信念则会为这种反应提供理由。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Psychology & Health Multiple-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

3.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Psychology & Health promotes the study and application of psychological approaches to health and illness. The contents include work on psychological aspects of physical illness, treatment processes and recovery; psychosocial factors in the aetiology of physical illnesses; health attitudes and behaviour, including prevention; the individual-health care system interface particularly communication and psychologically-based interventions. The journal publishes original research, and accepts not only papers describing rigorous empirical work, including meta-analyses, but also those outlining new psychological approaches and interventions in health-related fields.