Protect ya Grandma! The Effects of Students' Epistemic Beliefs and Prosocial Values on COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions.

Anastasia Mironova,Ivana Zidarova,Hannah Glas,Susanne Dertli,Lena Olinger,Fatbardh Rastelica,Dilara Derman,Stefan Kenst,Alica Linden,Kathrin Adler,Vera Schnurr,Benno Burczeck,Laura Kittel,Vanessa Blume,Marie Khosroschahli,Theresia Sauter,Elisabeth Schwab,Virginia K Heinen ,Vivien Cordes,Luisa Barbian,Tom Rosman,Yves Vieyra,Corinna Kraus,Andreas Zidak

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.683987

Anastasia Mironova, Ivana Zidarova + Show 22 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.683987

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Abstract

The present study investigates epistemic beliefs (beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing) and prosocial values as predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intentions. As a first hypothesis, we posit that beliefs in justification by authority will positively relate to vaccination intentions. Second, we expect a positive relationship between prosocial values and vaccination intentions. Third, we hypothesize that beliefs in justification by authority moderate the relationship between prosocial values and vaccination intentions, so that the positive correlation between prosocial values and vaccination intentions becomes stronger with increasing beliefs in justification by authority. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of N = 314 German university students, a group with rather high mobility, who, when vaccinated, will increase the chance of attaining herd immunity. Hypotheses were tested using correlational and multiple regression analyses. Results revealed a highly significant positive relationship between justification by authority and vaccination intentions, whereas both hypotheses that included prosocial values did not yield significant results. Additional exploratory analyses revealed that the relationship between justification by authority and vaccination intentions was mediated by beliefs in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. Furthermore, significant negative relationships were found between personal justification and vaccination intentions as well as between justification by multiple sources and vaccination intentions. These results highlight the crucial role of science and public health communication in fostering vaccination intentions regarding COVID-19.

Highlights

Public engagement with science has always been important for individual well-being and for social progress
In spring 2021, no question looms as urgently as that of vaccination intentions: Will enough people have themselves vaccinated in order to curb the spread of COVID-19? In this context, the present study investigates how individual epistemic beliefs, in combination with prosocial values, relate to vaccination intentions regarding COVID-19
As knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 mainly stems from the medical domain and since we were interested in an outcome related to this same domain, we focused, for the present study, on medicinespecific epistemic beliefs

Summary

Introduction

Public engagement with science has always been important for individual well-being and for social progress. Extraordinary times bring with them special circumstances. One such is arguably that of a pandemic sparked by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In these times, it becomes obvious how important it is that laypeople engage with scientific knowledge. This question is directed toward epistemic beliefs, defined as individual beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (Hofer and Pintrich, 1997). The present study investigates how individual epistemic beliefs, in combination with prosocial values, relate to vaccination intentions regarding COVID-19. While we did not formally preregister our study for time reasons, the hypotheses as well as our study design, sampling plan, and analysis plan were specified before collecting the data using a preregistration template

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