New research has shown that fear around vaccination can increase vaccine hesitancy, where conspiracy beliefs may then be used to justify not vaccinating, with these findings likely helping to inform more effective public health messaging.
Dr Daniel Jolley , from the University of Nottingham’s School of Psychology, along with Dr Lee Shepherd and Anna Maughan from Northumbria University, found that that fear of vaccines directly reduces people's intention to get vaccinated. When people feel hesitant about vaccines due to fear, they could be more likely to adopt conspiracy beliefs as a way to justify their unwillingness to get vaccinated. The results have been published in Psychology and Heath .
The team conducted three online studies with almost 1,000 participants to explore how fear may influence people’s willingness to receive a vaccine and also examine how fear influences anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs.
Dr Jolley explains: “The whole issue of vaccine hesitancy is complex with many factors at play, but we do know that conspiracy beliefs can have an effect on a person’s reasoning. We wanted to explore whether fear was linked to this. We initially thought that fear would increase conspiracy beliefs, leading to people being less willing to receive a vaccine. When our results didn’t support this, we considered a different explanation and collected more data. We tested whether fear directly causes vaccine hesitancy and if conspiracy beliefs emerge as a way to justify avoiding vaccines.”
To explore this theory, the researchers gave participants information on a fictional disease, and then a statement from an expert that either told them they should or shouldn’t be fearful of the vaccine – the information about the vaccine itself was the same. Participants were then asked questions about the vaccine and given conspiracy type statements to either agree or disagree with.
“These findings highlight the crucial role of emotions, especially fear, in shaping attitudes toward vaccines and the emergence of conspiracy beliefs,” said Dr Jolley, “Understanding this emotional component can help design more effective public health strategies to increase vaccine uptake.”
Based on the research, the team have made the following recommendations which could help improve vaccine uptake:
Dr Jolley concludes: “Public health initiatives should focus on the emotional roots of vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs. This is likely to be effective in encouraging vaccination and safeguarding public health. Addressing fear, in particular, can reduce the tendency to justify vaccine avoidance with conspiracy theories and help build a more trusting and well-informed society.”
Psychology and Health
Experimental study
People
The fear factor: examining the impact of fear on vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs
25-Jul-2024