Understanding and fighting the impact of conspiracy mentality – the example of vaccination

了解并对抗阴谋心态的影响——疫苗接种的例子

• 批准号: 438687673
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Kai Sassenberg
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: School of Psychology
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/438687673?language=en
• 关键词: Understanding; fighting; impact; conspiracy; mentality

Vaccination rates are on the decline, a trend that has coincided with the emergence of anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. The size of this relationship is striking: In Germany, approximately a quarter of the variance in anti-vaccination attitudes and intentions is explained by measuring people’s general willingness to believe conspiracies. This project sets out to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relation between conspiracy beliefs and anti-vaccination attitudes based on social psychological theorizing. The main focus will be on the role of social influence. First, it will test whether (and why) conspiracy mentality reduces the impact of norms on vaccination intentions. Second, it will test whether (and why) conspiracy mentality impedes the efficacy of pro-vaccination messages. Based on these findings, two strategies for overcoming resistance to pro-vaccination messages among those with a strong conspiracy mentality will be developed: (1) increasing trust and (2) reducing confirmatory processing. The project will combine online and lab experiments with longitudinal field studies in the general population. Overall, this project will not only provide insights relevant to vaccination but will also inform strategies to counteract conspiracy theories in different societal domains (e.g., political populism).

疫苗接种率正在下降，这一趋势与反疫苗接种阴谋论的出现同时发生。这种关系的规模是惊人的：在德国，大约四分之一的反疫苗态度和意图的差异是通过衡量人们相信阴谋论的总体意愿来解释的。该项目旨在基于社会心理学理论，提高我们对阴谋信仰与反疫苗态度之间关系的潜在机制的理解。主要关注点是社会影响力的作用。首先，它将测试阴谋心态是否（以及为什么）降低规范对疫苗接种意图的影响。其次，它将测试阴谋心态是否（以及为什么）阻碍了支持疫苗接种信息的有效性。基于这些发现，将制定两种策略来克服那些具有强烈阴谋心态的人对支持疫苗接种信息的抵制：（1）增加信任和（2）减少确认处理。该项目将把在线和实验室实验与普通人群的纵向实地研究结合起来。总体而言，该项目不仅将提供与疫苗接种相关的见解，还将为抵制不同社会领域（例如政治民粹主义）阴谋论的策略提供信息。