Countering antivaccination attitudes

Zachary Horne; Derek Powell; John E. Hummel; Keith J. Holyoak

doi:10.1073/pnas.1504019112

Countering antivaccination attitudes

Zachary Horne, Derek Powell, John E. Hummel, Keith J. Holyoak

School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Three times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014 as in 2013. The reemergence of measles has been linked to a dangerous trend: parents refusing vaccinations for their children. Efforts have been made to counter people’s antivaccination attitudes by providing scientific evidence refuting vaccination myths, but these interventions have proven ineffective. This study shows that highlighting factual information about the dangers of communicable diseases can positively impact people’s attitudes to vaccination. This method outperformed alternative interventions aimed at undercutting vaccination myths.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10321-10324
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Volume	112
Issue number	33
Early online date	3 Aug 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504019112
Publication status	Published - 18 Aug 2015

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

vaccination
belief revision
attitude change
science education

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10.1073/pnas.1504019112

Cite this

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title = "Countering antivaccination attitudes",

abstract = "Three times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014 as in 2013. The reemergence of measles has been linked to a dangerous trend: parents refusing vaccinations for their children. Efforts have been made to counter people{\textquoteright}s antivaccination attitudes by providing scientific evidence refuting vaccination myths, but these interventions have proven ineffective. This study shows that highlighting factual information about the dangers of communicable diseases can positively impact people{\textquoteright}s attitudes to vaccination. This method outperformed alternative interventions aimed at undercutting vaccination myths.",

keywords = "vaccination, belief revision, attitude change, science education",

author = "Zachary Horne and Derek Powell and Hummel, {John E.} and Holyoak, {Keith J.}",

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doi = "10.1073/pnas.1504019112",

language = "English",

volume = "112",

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journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Countering antivaccination attitudes

AU - Horne, Zachary

AU - Powell, Derek

AU - Hummel, John E.

AU - Holyoak, Keith J.

PY - 2015/8/18

Y1 - 2015/8/18

N2 - Three times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014 as in 2013. The reemergence of measles has been linked to a dangerous trend: parents refusing vaccinations for their children. Efforts have been made to counter people’s antivaccination attitudes by providing scientific evidence refuting vaccination myths, but these interventions have proven ineffective. This study shows that highlighting factual information about the dangers of communicable diseases can positively impact people’s attitudes to vaccination. This method outperformed alternative interventions aimed at undercutting vaccination myths.

AB - Three times as many cases of measles were reported in the United States in 2014 as in 2013. The reemergence of measles has been linked to a dangerous trend: parents refusing vaccinations for their children. Efforts have been made to counter people’s antivaccination attitudes by providing scientific evidence refuting vaccination myths, but these interventions have proven ineffective. This study shows that highlighting factual information about the dangers of communicable diseases can positively impact people’s attitudes to vaccination. This method outperformed alternative interventions aimed at undercutting vaccination myths.

KW - vaccination

KW - belief revision

KW - attitude change

KW - science education

UR - https://www.pnas.org/content/112/49/E6725

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1504019112

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1504019112

M3 - Article

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 112

SP - 10321

EP - 10324

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

IS - 33

ER -

Countering antivaccination attitudes

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Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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