Conspiracy Beliefs, Rejection of Vaccination, and Support for hydroxychloroquine: A Conceptual Replication-Extension in the COVID-19 Pandemic Context

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Paul Bertin¹  Kenzo Nera²  Sylvain Delouvée⁴ 

[1] Université Côte d’Azur;Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Université Libre de Bruxelles;Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS);EA1285 Laboratoire de Psychologie, University of Rennes

关键词: vaccination;    chloroquine;    conspiracy beliefs;    conspiracy mentality;    attitude toward science;    pandemic (COVID-19);    COVID–19;    vaccination intention;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565128

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Many conspiracy theories appeared along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it is documented that conspiracy theories negatively affect vaccination intentions, these beliefs might become a crucial matter in the near future. We conducted two cross-sectional studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, vaccine attitudes, and the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when a vaccine becomes available. We also examined how these beliefs predicted support for a controversial medical treatment, namely, chloroquine. In an exploratory study 1 ( N = 409), two subdimensions of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were associated with negative attitudes toward vaccine science. These results were partly replicated and extended in a pre-registered study 2 ( N = 396). Moreover, we found that COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (among which, conspiracy beliefs about chloroquine), as well as a conspiracy mentality (i.e., predisposition to believe in conspiracy theories) negatively predicted participants’ intentions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the future. Lastly, conspiracy beliefs predicted support for chloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. Interestingly, none of the conspiracy beliefs referred to the dangers of the vaccines. Implications for the pandemic and potential responses are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY