NSF-BSF: Willingness to Vaccinate Against COVID-19: Psychological Mechanisms and Ways to Increase Responsiveness

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of over 4 million people worldwide, and over 190 million people have been affected in varying degrees of severity. The vaccine against the coronavirus has dramatically reduced the number of infected people, saving the lives of millions. However, although the vaccine has been proved to be highly effective, and its safety profile is satisfactory, in most countries there is still a relatively large percentage of people who are opposed, who endanger the entire population in their country as well as worldwide. Since COVID-19 continues to pose a threat to humans, it is essential to understand what causes this resistance and to find ways to increase vaccination rates. This research relies on previous works on terror management theory, as well as on insights from recent work on people's willingness to donate organs after death, to suggest psychological mechanisms that may explain people's resistance to the vaccine, and to offer effective interventions to increase vaccination rates.

Given the necessity of getting more people vaccinated, understanding the reasons behind peoples' negative attitudes towards Covid vaccines and their reluctance to be vaccinated is of great importance. This research analyzes the multiple factors that may influence people's attitudes toward the coronavirus and their decisions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or not. The study entails 11 experiments reflecting two research directions: The first (Part I) examines the influence of different descriptions of COVID-19 on people's attitudes and willingness to be vaccinated. Manipulations to increase thoughts of life saving (rather than death) may override defense mechanisms that might create negative attitudes toward the vaccine, thus increasing willingness to vaccinate. Additional studies manipulate the status quo (making the decision not to vaccinate a deviation from the default) and examine the effect on risk perceptions and on increasing willingness to vaccinate. Part II of the studies focus on individual differences in fears and beliefs that are hypothesized to play a major role in people's decisions about vaccination, including the fear of death, religious beliefs, belief in a just world and belief in tempting fate.

This project is being supported by a partnership between the National Science Foundation and the U.S.-Israel Bi-national Science Foundation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.