Researchers conducted four experiments in which 2,244 participants played games related to vaccination with monetary rewards and found that vaccinated individuals were less generous to nonvaccinated individuals than to other vaccinated individuals; this behavior was especially pronounced among participants who believed vaccination is a moral obligation and was independent of whether individuals were members of the same or different social groups, suggesting that being vaccinated is considered a societal obligation, according to the authors.
Article #19-19666: "Vaccination as a social contract," by Lars Korn, Robert Böhm, Nicolas W. Meier, and Cornelia Betsch.
MEDIA CONTACT: Lars Korn, University of Erfurt, GERMANY; tel: +49-1754455493; email: lars.korn@uni-erfurt.de
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences