Measuring the effects of misinformation exposure and beliefs on behavioural intentions: a COVID-19 vaccination study

被引:23
作者
de Saint Laurent, Constance [1 ]
Murphy, Gillian [2 ]
Hegarty, Karen [1 ]
Greene, Ciara M. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Coll Dublin, Sch Psychol, Dublin, Ireland
[2] Univ Coll Cork, Sch Appl Psychol, Cork, Ireland
关键词
Misinformation; Fake news; Vaccine; COVID-19; FAKE NEWS; ATTITUDE-CHANGE; FALSE NEWS; PERSUASION; METAANALYSIS; WILL; US;
D O I
10.1186/s41235-022-00437-y
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Misinformation has been a pressing issue since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening our ability to effectively act on the crisis. Nevertheless, little is known about the actual effects of fake news on behavioural intentions. Does exposure to or belief in misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines affect people's intentions to receive such a vaccine? This paper attempts to address this question via three preregistered experiments (N = 3463). In Study 1, participants (n = 1269) were exposed to fabricated pro- or anti-vaccine information or to neutral true information, and then asked about their intentions to get vaccinated. In Study 2, participants (n = 646) were exposed to true pro- and anti-vaccine information, while Study 3 (n = 1548) experimentally manipulated beliefs in novel misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines by increasing exposure to the information. The results of these three studies showed that exposure to false information about the vaccines had little effect on participants' intentions to get vaccinated, even when multiple exposures led them to believe the headlines to be more accurate. An exploratory meta-analysis of studies 1 and 3, with a combined sample size of 2683, showed that exposure to false information both supporting and opposing COVID-19 vaccines actually increased vaccination intentions, though the effect size was very small. We conclude by cautioning researchers against equating exposure to misinformation or perceived accuracy of false news with actual behaviours.
引用
收藏
页数:19
相关论文
共 50 条
[41]   Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study [J].
Lee, Jung Jae ;
Kang, Kyung-Ah ;
Wang, Man Ping ;
Zhao, Sheng Zhi ;
Wong, Janet Yuen Ha ;
O'Connor, Siobhan ;
Yang, Sook Ching ;
Shin, Sunhwa .
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH, 2020, 22 (11)
[42]   Are Mutated Misinformation More Contagious? A Case Study of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter [J].
Yan, Muheng ;
Lin, Yu-Ru ;
Chung, Wen-Ting .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 14TH ACM WEB SCIENCE CONFERENCE, WEBSCI 2022, 2022, :336-347
[43]   YouTube as a source of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination: a systematic analysis [J].
Li, Heidi Oi-Yee ;
Pastukhova, Elena ;
Brandts-Longtin, Olivier ;
Tan, Marcus G. ;
Kirchhof, Mark G. .
BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH, 2022, 7 (03)
[44]   Can vaccination intentions against COVID-19 be nudged? [J].
Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, Elena ;
Kantorowicz, Jaroslaw ;
Wells, Liam .
BEHAVIOURAL PUBLIC POLICY, 2025, 9 (01) :36-60
[45]   Effects of Prosocial and Hope-Promoting Communication Strategies on COVID-19 Worry and Intentions for Risk-Reducing Behaviors and Vaccination: Experimental Study [J].
Scharnetzki, Elizabeth ;
Waterston, Leo ;
Scherer, Aaron M. ;
Thorpe, Alistair ;
Fagerlin, Angela ;
Han, Paul K. J. .
JMIR FORMATIVE RESEARCH, 2023, 7
[46]   Gender as a moderating variable in online misinformation acceptance during COVID-19 [J].
Mansoori, Ahmed ;
Tahat, Khalaf ;
Tahat, Dina ;
Habes, Mohammad ;
Salloum, Said A. ;
Mesbah, Hesham ;
Elareshi, Mokhtar .
HELIYON, 2023, 9 (09)
[47]   The COVID-19 Infodemic: Misinformation About Health on Social Media in Istanbul [J].
Tuncer, Serdar ;
Tam, Mehmet Sinan .
TURKIYE ILETISIM ARASTIRMALARI DERGISI-TURKISH REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES, 2022, (40) :340-358
[48]   An Exploration of Egyptian Facebook Users’ Perceptions and Behavior of COVID-19 Misinformation [J].
Shehata A. ;
Eldakar M. .
Science and Technology Libraries, 2021, 40 (04) :390-415
[49]   Public Health Communication Reduces COVID-19 Misinformation Sharing and Boosts Self-Efficacy [J].
Rasmussen, Jesper ;
Lindekilde, Lasse ;
Petersen, Michael Bang .
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL POLITICAL SCIENCE, 2024, 11 (03) :327-342
[50]   Moral Emotions Shape the Virality of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media [J].
Solovev, Kirill ;
Proellochs, Nicolas .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACM WEB CONFERENCE 2022 (WWW'22), 2022, :3706-3717