Driving to Comply: Mind Genomics, Arizona, and the COVID-19 Vaccine

Abstract

The study reported here represents the first effort to apply the emerging science of Mind Genomics to the citizens of an entire state, with the goal of improving about the during the rather than as an academic exercise AFTER the virus. The paper presents a statewide study of responses to COVID-19, done in Arizona, USA, as preparation for the upcoming vaccine, promised for 2021. The objective is to determine the key messages which would engage Arizonans, and interest them in as preparation for a state-wide vaccination campaign. The process followed the Mind Genomics protocol, a protocol used to uncover how people think about the ordinary topics of their lives, done by exposing them to systematic combinations of messages, and determining which individual messages drove their ratings. The data confirmed previous North American findings, that there are two major mind-sets when it comes to COVID-19, the Pandemic Onlookers who are not involved and are engaged by one set of messages, and the Pandemic Citizens, who are involved, want to be guided by the government, and are engaged by another set of messages. These two mind-sets distribute throughout the population but can be quickly identified through a six-question, 30-second intervention, the PVI, Personal Viewpoint Identifier.