Get Vaccinated Now, But the Choice is Up to You: Framing, Psychological Reactance, and Autonomy Restoration Scripts for COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.

Abstract

Covid-19 is still a major public health issue in the United States and one of the most effective ways to minimize the damage caused by this illness is through encouraging individuals to receive vaccines and keep up with vaccine boosters. However, many individuals remain vaccine-hesitant. The current project examines the most effective way to persuade vaccine hesitant individuals through a textual message-based experiment. Psychological reactance, messaging framing (loss and gain), and autonomy restoring messages are examined to determine their effectiveness in moving the vaccine-hesitant to vaccine accepting. A 3 (frame: loss/gain/neutral) X 2 (autonomy restoration script/filler) between-subjects experiment was conducted using a sample of 605 participants over the age of 18 who either had not received any COVID-19 vaccine or any type of COVID-19 vaccine booster. Findings suggest that individuals who had not received any vaccination varied in their psychological reactance compared to those who had at least an initial vaccination. Framing was also found to play an important part in feelings of lost autonomy and that restoration messages helped reduce feelings of lost autonomy. Further, feelings of loss of freedom created more psychological reactance and could cause increases in vaccine resistance. Mediation effects were also supported, indicating that message framing and autonomy restoration influenced vaccine hesitancy indirectly through perceived threats to freedom and psychological reactance.