National narcissism and support for voluntary vaccination policy: The mediating role of vaccination conspiracy beliefs

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between vaccination hesitancy and the way people feel about their national groups. Antivaccination attitudes are associated with conspiracy beliefs, which have been linked to group-based defensiveness. Thus, we hypothesized that defensiveness about one’s national identity, operationalized as collective narcissism measured in relation to one’s national group, might be related to antivaccination attitudes. We found that national narcissism, but not national identification, predicted support for a voluntary vaccination policy both in a general population sample ( N = 361) and among visitors of antivaccination discussion forums ( N = 178). In two further studies involving national quota samples, national narcissism was also related to vaccination conspiracy beliefs ( N = 1,048), and these beliefs mediated its association with support for a voluntary vaccination policy ( N = 811). By highlighting the link between antiscience attitudes and collective narcissism, we demonstrate that group defensiveness can be linked to support for decisions that may undermine the health and well-being of present and future ingroup members.