Pro‐vaccination subjective norms moderate the relationship between conspiracy mentality and vaccination intentions

Abstract

Objectives. Increasing vaccination hesitancy threatens societies' capacity to contain pandemics and other diseases. One factor that is positively associated with vaccination intentions is a supportive subjective norm (i.e., the perception that close others approve of vaccination). On the downside, there is evidence that negative attitudes toward vaccinations are partly rooted in conspiracy mentality (i.e., the tendency to believe in conspiracies). The objective of this study is to examine the role of subjective norms in moderating the association between conspiracy mentality and vaccine hesitancy. We examined two competing predictions: Are those high in conspiracy mentality immune to subjective norms, or do subjective norms moderate the relationship between conspiracy mentality and vaccination intentions? Methods. We conducted five studies (total N = 1,280) to test these hypotheses across several vaccination contexts (some real, some fictitious). We measured conspiracy mentality, vaccination intentions, subjective norms, attitudes toward vaccination, and perceived behavioural control.Results. A merged analysis across the studies revealed an interaction effect of conspiracy mentality and subjective norm on vaccination intentions. When subjective norm was high (i.e., when participants perceived that close others approved of vaccines) conspiracy mentality no longer predicted vaccination intentions. This was consistent with the moderating hypothesis of subjective norms and inconsistent with the immunity hypothesis.Conclusions. The typical negative relationship between conspiracy mentality and vaccination intentions is eliminated among those who perceive pro-vaccination subjective norms. Although correlational, these data raise the possibility that pro-vaccination views of friends and family can be leveraged to reduce vaccine hesitancy.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

The impact of risk perceptions and belief in conspiracy theories on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviours

“…Experimental research in which conspiracy theory belief was manipulated has found it reduces participants’ intentions to engage in political and sustainable behaviours [ 20 ], and influences mediators of unethical behaviour [ 80 , 81 ]. Furthermore, anti-vaccination conspiracy theories facilitate vaccine hesitancy [ 82 – 84 ] especially during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 85 ], and negatively impact vaccination intentions [ 9 , 19 , 72 , 82 , 83 ]. Research into the effect beliefs and risk perceptions have on behaviour within health also allow us to reasonably predict that risk perceptions [ 86 ] and perceptions of severity of risk can predict behaviour [ 85 , 86 ].…”

Risk-Perception Change Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine’s Side Effects: The Role of Individual Differences

“…As a consequence, the belief in conspiracy theories which affect levels of trust regarding the effectiveness and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines [3,6,13], have remained unchanged throughout the pandemic [8]. Consequently, in the context of the current pandemic, the belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories is found to decrease institutional trust [6,14], support for government regulations, and the use of preventive measures (i.e., wearing a face mask, maintaining social distance, and frequent handwashing) [15][16][17]. Studies have found that negative attitudes towards experts make people more likely to deny scientific consensus and endorse conspiracies that oppose it [14,[18][19][20].…”

Mitigating and managing COVID-19 conspiratorial beliefs

“…However, when people believed there was a strong social norm supporting vaccinations, conspiracy mentality did not predict vaccination intentions. 30 It is important to note that what matters is not the actual behavioural norm, but rather what people perceive to be the behavioural norm; indeed, people often do not accurately perceive the strength of a behavioural norm. 31 32 If many members of a group have conspiratorial beliefs, which cause them to incorrectly believe that certain behaviour is very uncommon in their group (eg, vaccination among US Republicans), then correcting this view may reduce the effects of conspiratorial beliefs on that behaviour.…”