Prof. Dr. Miguel Brendl | Meike Kakas

Marketing

Description of the Problem
Currently, it is unknown whether vaccination disgust influences truth sensitivity
and/or belief bias. Knowing this could help us develop interventions to counter the
spread of misinformation. For example, feeling disgust may signal to a person that
a vaccine has severe negative consequences. If so, we expect disgust to influence
belief bias rather than truth sensitivity. At the same time, pre/debunking likely
improves truth sensitivity rather than belief bias. If this is the case, predebunking
could be complemented by interventions that reduce disgust, thus also influencing
belief bias.

Objectives
We aim to show that vaccination disgust increases belief bias toward anti-vaccine
claims, which in turn increases willingness to share these claims, whereas
prebunking influences truth sensitivity. We will then test interventions (see below)
to undermine the influence of disgust on belief bias and misinformation sharing.

Importance, Usefulness and Novelty of the Project
Spreading of misinformation reduces actual vaccination rates9. Emotions likely play a
role, but their influence is poorly understood. We aim to improve this understanding
by showing that disgust influences belief bias, while prebunking influences truth
sensitivity. This is novel. Our results can help design communications that would
reduce belief bias and thus the sharing of anti-vaccine misinformation.