Correcting Misperceptions about the MMR Vaccine: Using Psychological Risk Factors to Inform Targeted Communication Strategies

Abstract

Many Americans endorse misinformation about vaccine safety. This is problematic because those who do are more likely to resist evidence-based policies, such as mandatory vaccination for school attendance. Although many have attempted to correct misinformation about vaccines, few attempts have been successful. This study uses psychological correlates of vaccine misinformation acceptance to develop a novel misinformation correction strategy by tailoring provaccine messages to appeal to these psychological traits. For example, people with higher moral purity levels are more likely to view vaccines as contaminating the body, but messages highlighting disease via under-vaccination can use their higher moral purity to push them toward vaccine support. Using a large survey experiment ( N = 7,019) and a smaller replication experiment ( N = 825) of American adults, we demonstrate that interventions designed to appeal to people high in moral purity and needle sensitivity—two relatively understudied correlates of vaccine misinformation support—can also be targeted to effectively reduce vaccine misinformation endorsement. This study provides a better understanding of the psychological origins of misinformed political and policy attitudes, and it suggests a strategy for combating policy-related misinformation more generally, ultimately boosting support for evidence-based policies.

Explaining Support for COVID-19 Cell Phone Contact Tracing

“…Understanding the psychology of public opinion is key to predicting compliance with health safety measures during a pandemic. In particular, our results contribute to a literature focusing on the role of communication in the formation of attitudes toward health policy (see Lunz Trujillo et al, 2020). The reliance on fear appeals when communicating health risks to the public, for instance, is a well documented strategy used to induce changes in behaviour (Witte and Allen, 2000;Van Bavel et al, 2020).…”

Correlates and disparities of intention to vaccinate against COVID-19

“…By identifying those most likely to refuse vaccination, public health experts can develop health messages targeted at encouraging vaccination among these groups. This approach could prove vital to improving uptake of a COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., see Lunz-Trujillo et al, 2020 ).…”

Rural and Urban Differences in COVID‐19 Prevention Behaviors

“…We further accounted for any other differences between our sample and the US population by developing and implementing post‐stratification weights in all models based on Census benchmarks for age, gender, race, education, and income. Importantly, past research suggests that Lucid samples closely approximate the US population and outperform convenience samples, leading to growing use of the platform in the social sciences and health services research 27–30 …”