Scientific Literacy Linked to Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccinations: A Pre-Registered Study

Motoki, Kosuke; Saito, Toshiki; Takano, Yuji

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.707391

Cited by 29 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…We also found that attitudes and motivated beliefs appeared to play a role in people’s predictions and explanations regarding COVID-19, consistent with other recent reports in the literature (e.g., Motoki et al, 2021 ; Sanchez and Dunning, 2021 ; Thoma et al, 2021 ). In the current data, trust in medical science and taking the COVID-19 disease seriously were predictive of people’s accuracy in explaining the disease, as well as their understanding of vaccines and with wanting to be vaccinated.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…(Interestingly, they found that simply knowing COVID-19 symptoms did not correlate with precautionary behaviors.) It is also consistent with Motoki et al (2021) , who found that scientific literacy was linked to attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinations, and Sanchez and Dunning (2021) , who found that attitudes regarding scientists predicted COVID-19 attitudes and protective behaviors even more than did political partisanship.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

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Scientific and Folk Theories of Viral Transmission: A Comparison of COVID-19 and the Common Cold

Labotka

Gelman

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Disease transmission is a fruitful domain in which to examine how scientific and folk theories interrelate, given laypeople’s access to multiple sources of information to explain events of personal significance. The current paper reports an in-depth survey of U.S. adults’ (N = 238) causal reasoning about two viral illnesses: a novel, deadly disease that has massively disrupted everyone’s lives (COVID-19), and a familiar, innocuous disease that has essentially no serious consequences (the common cold). Participants received a series of closed-ended and open-ended questions probing their reasoning about disease transmission, with a focus on causal mechanisms underlying disease contraction, transmission, treatment, and prevention; non-visible (internal) biological processes; and ontological frameworks regarding what kinds of entities viruses are. We also assessed participants’ attitudes, such as their trust in scientific experts and willingness to be vaccinated. Results indicated complexity in people’s reasoning, consistent with the co-existence of multiple explanatory frameworks. An understanding of viral transmission and viral replication existed alongside folk theories, placeholder beliefs, and lack of differentiation between viral and non-viral disease. For example, roughly 40% of participants who explained illness in terms of the transmission of viruses also endorsed a non-viral folk theory, such as exposure to cold weather or special foods as curative. Additionally, participants made use of competing modes of construal (biological, mechanical, and psychological) when explaining how viruses operate, such as framing the immune system response (biological) as cells trying to fight off the virus (psychological). Indeed, participants who displayed greater knowledge about viral transmission were significantly more likely to anthropomorphize bodily processes. Although comparisons of COVID-19 and the common cold revealed relatively few differences, the latter, more familiar disease elicited consistently lower levels of accuracy and greater reliance on folk theories. Moreover, for COVID-19 in particular, accuracy positively correlated with attitudes (trusting medical scientists and taking the disease more seriously), self-protective behaviors (such as social distancing and mask-wearing), and willingness to be vaccinated. For both diseases, self-assessed knowledge about the disease negatively predicted accuracy. The results are discussed in relation to challenges for formal models of explanatory reasoning.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Scientific and Folk Theories of Viral Transmission: A Comparison of COVID-19 and the Common Cold

Labotka

Gelman

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…Further, students felt like they could make an informed decision regarding vaccination after the completion of the module ( Table 1 ). Given perception of vaccination ( 15 , 19 , 20 ) and information levels ( 24 , 25 ) are related to vaccine-acceptance, this would suggest that student's plans to get vaccinated may have shifted due to the module.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of particular importance is the rampant vaccine mistrust to be higher among non-white and non-male demographic groups ( 20 – 23 ). Furthermore, both lower education and information levels were found to be correlated with lower willingness to get vaccinated and to abide by preventive measures ( 24 , 25 ). Such diverse population of individuals include non-STEM majors (henceforth called “non-majors”) college students who may depend on a college science curriculum to enhance their scientific literacy ( 26 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Expert-Led Module Improves Non-STEM Undergraduate Perception of and Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccines

Morra

Adkins-Jablonsky

Barnes

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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As evidence mounted that existing prevention methods would be insufficient to end the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that vaccines would be critical to achieve and maintain reduced rates of infection. However, vaccine-hesitant sentiments have become widespread, particularly in populations with lower scientific literacy. The non-STEM major (called non-major) college students represent one such population who rely on one or more science classes to develop their scientific literacy and thus, become candidates of interest for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. As these students have fewer opportunities to learn how to identify reputable scientific sources or judge the validity of novel scientific findings, it is particularly important that these skills are included in the science courses offered to non-majors. Two concurrent non-major biology courses (N = 98) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Spring 2021 completed Likert questionnaires with open-ended questions prior to and after an expert-led Vaccine Awareness educational intervention addressing vaccine-related concerns. In the module, experts gave presentations about COVID-19 related to microbiology, epidemiological factors, and professional experiences relating to COVID-19. Ten students agreed to participate in post-semester one-on-one interviews. Student interviews revealed that students perceived guest lecturers as providing more information and assurance. Questionnaire data showed an increase in student willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine as well as increased student perception of the COVID-19 vaccines as both safe and effective (Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, p < 0.05). However, the questionnaire data revealed 10 of 98 students remained vaccine-resistant, and these students expressed insufficient research and side effects as leading vaccination concerns. Overall, we show expert-led modules can be effective in increasing non-majors willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines. Future research should explore the experiences of non-majors and guest lectures, particularly as they relate to vaccination and vaccine concerns.

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“…For example, Chen et al used Protection Motivation Theory to explain the association between COVID-19 knowledge and adoption of preventive behaviors, including intention to get vaccinated ( Chen et al, 2021 ). Motoki et al used the information-deficit model to examine whether scientific literacy and perceived level of knowledge about COVID-19 are associated with attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinations and preventive behaviors ( Motoki et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A high level of vaccine knowledge increases people's behavioral risks for contracting COVID-19 in Japan

Takahashi

Yamada²,

Sasaki³

et al. 2022

Social Science & Medicine

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Scientific Literacy Linked to Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccinations: A Pre-Registered Study

Cited by 29 publications

References 30 publications

Scientific and Folk Theories of Viral Transmission: A Comparison of COVID-19 and the Common Cold

Scientific and Folk Theories of Viral Transmission: A Comparison of COVID-19 and the Common Cold

Expert-Led Module Improves Non-STEM Undergraduate Perception of and Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccines

A high level of vaccine knowledge increases people's behavioral risks for contracting COVID-19 in Japan

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