A message of the majority with scientific evidence encourages young people to show their prosocial nature in COVID-19 vaccination.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 23261, 2021 12 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1545638
ABSTRACT
The most promising way to prevent the explosive spread of COVID-19 infection is to achieve herd immunity through vaccination. It is therefore important to motivate those who are less willing to be vaccinated. To address this issue, we conducted an online survey of 6232 Japanese people to investigate age- and gender-dependent differences in attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination and the underlying psychological processes. We asked participants to read one of nine different messages about COVID-19 vaccination and rate their willingness to be vaccinated. We also collected their 17 social personality trait scores and demographic information. We found that males 10-20 years old were least willing to be vaccinated. We also found that prosocial traits are the driving force for young people, but the motivation in older people also depends on risk aversion and self-interest. Furthermore, an analysis of 9 different messages demonstrated that for young people (particularly males), the message emphasizing the majority's intention to vaccinate and scientific evidence for the safety of the vaccination had the strongest positive effect on the willingness to be vaccinated, suggesting that the "majority + scientific evidence" message nudges young people to show their prosocial nature in action.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Behavior
/
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
/
Vaccination
/
Evidence-Based Medicine
/
Immunity, Herd
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-02230-1
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