Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context
This study examines the effectiveness of the inoculation strategy in countering vaccine-related misinformation among Hong Kong college students. A three-phase between-subject experiment (n = 123) was conducted to compare the persuasive effects of inoculation messages (two-sided messages forewarning...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.976091/full |
| _version_ | 1798030552527273984 |
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| author | Li Crystal Jiang Mengru Sun Mengru Sun Tsz Hang Chu Stella C. Chia |
| author_facet | Li Crystal Jiang Mengru Sun Mengru Sun Tsz Hang Chu Stella C. Chia |
| author_sort | Li Crystal Jiang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study examines the effectiveness of the inoculation strategy in countering vaccine-related misinformation among Hong Kong college students. A three-phase between-subject experiment (n = 123) was conducted to compare the persuasive effects of inoculation messages (two-sided messages forewarning about misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines), supportive messages (conventional health advocacy), and no message control. The results show that inoculation messages were superior to supportive messages at generating resistance to misinformation, as evidenced by more positive vaccine attitudes and stronger vaccine intention. Notably, while we expected the inoculation condition would produce more resistance than the control condition, there was little evidence in favor of this prediction. Attitudinal threat and counterarguing moderated the experimental effects; issue involvement and political trust were found to directly predict vaccine attitudes and intention. The findings suggest that future interventions focus on developing preventive mechanisms to counter misinformation and spreading inoculation over the issue is an effective strategy to generate resistance to misinformation. Interventions should be cautious about using health advocacy initiated by governments among populations with low political trust. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:42:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-baff7602ada24b3488c12f352c86817c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:42:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-baff7602ada24b3488c12f352c86817c2022-12-22T04:06:40ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-10-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.976091976091Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust contextLi Crystal Jiang0Mengru Sun1Mengru Sun2Tsz Hang Chu3Stella C. Chia4Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaCollege of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaThis study examines the effectiveness of the inoculation strategy in countering vaccine-related misinformation among Hong Kong college students. A three-phase between-subject experiment (n = 123) was conducted to compare the persuasive effects of inoculation messages (two-sided messages forewarning about misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines), supportive messages (conventional health advocacy), and no message control. The results show that inoculation messages were superior to supportive messages at generating resistance to misinformation, as evidenced by more positive vaccine attitudes and stronger vaccine intention. Notably, while we expected the inoculation condition would produce more resistance than the control condition, there was little evidence in favor of this prediction. Attitudinal threat and counterarguing moderated the experimental effects; issue involvement and political trust were found to directly predict vaccine attitudes and intention. The findings suggest that future interventions focus on developing preventive mechanisms to counter misinformation and spreading inoculation over the issue is an effective strategy to generate resistance to misinformation. Interventions should be cautious about using health advocacy initiated by governments among populations with low political trust.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.976091/fullvaccineinoculationvaccinesmessage resistancehealth promotionHong Kong |
| spellingShingle | Li Crystal Jiang Mengru Sun Mengru Sun Tsz Hang Chu Stella C. Chia Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context Frontiers in Psychology vaccine inoculation vaccines message resistance health promotion Hong Kong |
| title | Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| title_full | Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| title_fullStr | Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| title_short | Inoculation works and health advocacy backfires: Building resistance to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| title_sort | inoculation works and health advocacy backfires building resistance to covid 19 vaccine misinformation in a low political trust context |
| topic | vaccine inoculation vaccines message resistance health promotion Hong Kong |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.976091/full |
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