Covid-19 is real: examining inoculation theory and trust in science to increase compliance with safety guidelines
Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a critical lack of trust in science and rejection of suggested safety guidelines. This study utilized inoculation theory, a mature persuasive process, to act as an intervention to increase compliance with safety guidelines. It has been asserted that the higher one’s trust in science, the greater their compliance to safety guidelines will be (Plohl & Musil, 2020). This study employed 156 currently enrolled college students at a major Mid-Atlantic university for an online experiment. Participants were asked to read one of two messages: either a control message unrelated to coronavirus or an inoculation message aimed at reinforcing the participant’s compliance with guidelines and protecting them from pressure to deviate. An additional component was added to the inoculation message, following research by Richards and Banas (2015; 2018), to reduce message reactance induced by the COVID-19 inoculation message. After reading their randomly assigned message, participants were asked to respond to questions measuring their reactance toward the message they read (Richards & Banas, 2015; Richards & Banas, 2018), their behavioral intentions during the pandemic (Biddlestone et al., 2020), their beliefs regarding COVID-19 (Biddlestone et al., 2020), the Trust in Science and Scientists Inventory (TSSI) (Nadelson et al., 2014), and Hong’s Psychological Reactance Scale (Hong & Page, 1989). Independent-samples t-tests, linear regressions, and multiple regressions were used to test the effects of the inoculation message against the five batteries listed above. A significant correlation was found between message reactance and COVID-19 beliefs (p = <0.001). Significance was also found between condition x trust in science and scientists with COVID-19 beliefs (p = <0.001). Implications for future inoculation campaigns, limitations within the sample, and directions for future research are discussed.
Description
Keywords
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health, Inoculation, Messaging, Reactance