Immune to influence

A study published in the journal

Vaccine

provides the first rigorous look at how our attitudes towards vaccines (here: the flu vaccine) are shaped by online forces. University of Konstanz psychologists from both DFG Clusters of Excellence–“Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality”–led the research, which also included scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the University of Erfurt.

In a departure from similar studies that rely on observational data, the current study used experimental manipulation to directly measure polarization in the transmission of vaccination risk information in online communication chains. Their findings show that, contrary to expectations, existing vaccination beliefs are very resilient to radicalization, even to the point of being immune to any influence at all. The results have important implications for public health, suggesting that successful health communication should particularly target those who have not yet made up their mind.

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Read the full story in the University of Konstanz’s online magazine, campus.kn, after the embargo ends:

http://www.

immune-to-influence

Facts:

• University of Konstanz researchers publish experimental study scrutinizing how vaccination arguments propagate in chains of people.
• Study finds no evidence of “echo chambers”: attitudes to flu vaccines did not become more extreme in groups of people who shared the same opinion.
• Instead, people communicate only information that conforms to their prior attitudes.
• Original publication: Helge Giese, Hansjo?rg Neth, Mehdi Moussai?d, Cornelia Betsch, Wolfgang Gaissmaier. The echo in flu-vaccination echo chambers: Selective attention trumps social influence.
  
  Vaccine
  
  (DOI:
  
  https:/

  /

  doi.

  org/

  10.

  1016/

  j.

  vaccine.

  2019.

  11.

  038
  
  , this link will go live after the embargo ends).

• 
  About
  
  Vaccine:
  
  
  
  Vaccine
  
  is the pre-eminent journal for those interested in vaccines and vaccination. It is the official journal of The Edward Jenner Society and The Japanese Society for Vaccinology and is published by Elsevier (
  
  http://www.

  elsevier.

  com/

  locate/

  vaccine
  
  ).

• Copies of this paper are available to credentialed journalists upon request; please contact Elsevier’s Newsroom at:
  
  [email protected]
  
  or +31 20 485 2719.
• Authors Helge Giese, Hansjo?rg Neth, and Wolfgang Gaissmaier are all from the Department of Psychology and DFG Clusters of Excellence–“Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality”–at the University of Konstanz.
• campus.kn is the University of Konstanz’s online magazine. We use multimedia approaches to provide insights into our research and science, study and teaching as well as life on campus.

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