Inoculation in psychology refers to a technique designed to immunize people against persuasive argumentation that might undermine their beliefs in accepted truths, for example, that you should, if possible, brush your teeth after every meal (McGuire & Papageorgis, 1961) or that you should vaccinate your children (Jolley & Douglas, 2017). Meta-analyses (Banas & Rains, 2010) have shown that inoculation is more effective than merely providing supportive arguments or no intervention at all. Roozenbeek and van der Linden (2019a, 2019b) proposed a new version of this technique: immunizing people against belief in fake news by using a computer game “Bad News” in which a player takes on the role of the editor of a website that spreads fake news and conspiracy theories. Their studies demonstrated that such an interactive approach could be highly effective in reducing susceptibility to fake news. Building on this concept, we wanted to investigate whether a similar game could influence attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination and reduce vulnerability to pandemic-related misinformation. For this purpose, a new game, “COVID-19 Fake News,” inspired by “Bad News” but specifically focused on coronavirus-related fake news and vaccine hesitancy, was developed. Playing the game did not significantly decrease belief in COVID-19-related misinformation nor did it increase willingness to vaccinate when compared to the control condition. Potential reasons for this discrepancy with Roozenbeek and van der Linden’s findings are discussed.

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Inoculation: A Vaccine Against Anti-vaccine Arguments

  • A. M. Rędzio

摘要

Inoculation in psychology refers to a technique designed to immunize people against persuasive argumentation that might undermine their beliefs in accepted truths, for example, that you should, if possible, brush your teeth after every meal (McGuire & Papageorgis, 1961) or that you should vaccinate your children (Jolley & Douglas, 2017). Meta-analyses (Banas & Rains, 2010) have shown that inoculation is more effective than merely providing supportive arguments or no intervention at all. Roozenbeek and van der Linden (2019a, 2019b) proposed a new version of this technique: immunizing people against belief in fake news by using a computer game “Bad News” in which a player takes on the role of the editor of a website that spreads fake news and conspiracy theories. Their studies demonstrated that such an interactive approach could be highly effective in reducing susceptibility to fake news. Building on this concept, we wanted to investigate whether a similar game could influence attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination and reduce vulnerability to pandemic-related misinformation. For this purpose, a new game, “COVID-19 Fake News,” inspired by “Bad News” but specifically focused on coronavirus-related fake news and vaccine hesitancy, was developed. Playing the game did not significantly decrease belief in COVID-19-related misinformation nor did it increase willingness to vaccinate when compared to the control condition. Potential reasons for this discrepancy with Roozenbeek and van der Linden’s findings are discussed.