Code for: Addressing Covid-19 Vaccination Conspiracy Theories and Vaccination Intentions.

Conspiracy theories often involve topics of uncertainty and ambivalence. One of those topics during the Covid-19 pandemic was the Covid-19 vaccination based on the new method using messenger RNA. In a preregistered study with N = 382 participants, we tested an intervention addressing the uncertainty concerning this new vaccination at a time when conspiracy theories about the vaccination method were not yet widely spread. Participants either only read short facts about the new vaccination (no explanation condition), or read these facts in addition to an explanation about the function of messenger RNA vaccines (relevant explanation condition), or they read the facts after the explanation of an alternative issue (irrelevant explanation condition). Results showed that individuals reading the relevant explanations addressing uncertainties surrounding the new vaccination method were less likely to agree with a Covid-19 vaccination conspiracy theory and were more willing to get a Covid-19 vaccination compared to the other conditions. An exploratory analysis showed that agreement with the Covid-19 vaccination conspiracy theory mediated the effect of explanation type on vaccination intentions. Potential implications and limitations are discussed. Code for: Pummerer, L., Winter, K., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). Addressing Covid-19 Vaccination Conspiracy Theories and Vaccination Intentions. European Journal of Health Communication, 3(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.47368/ejhc.2022.201 peerReviewed acceptedVersion

阴谋论往往围绕兼具不确定性与矛盾性的议题展开。新冠疫情期间，此类议题之一便是采用信使核糖核酸（messenger RNA）新技术的新冠疫苗接种。本研究为预注册研究，共纳入382名被试，在该疫苗接种相关阴谋论尚未广泛传播的阶段，测试了针对该新型疫苗接种不确定性的干预手段。被试被分为三组：仅阅读新型新冠疫苗相关简短事实的组（无解释组）、在阅读事实前先了解mRNA疫苗作用机制的组（相关解释组），以及先阅读无关议题的解释再阅读疫苗事实的组（无关解释组）。结果显示，相较于其余两组，阅读针对新型疫苗技术相关不确定性的相关解释的被试，更不认同新冠疫苗接种相关阴谋论，且新冠疫苗接种意愿更高。探索性分析表明，对新冠疫苗接种阴谋论的认同度在解释类型对接种意愿的影响中起到了中介作用。本研究还讨论了潜在的研究意义与局限。本研究代码及经同行评审的录用终稿可参阅：Pummerer, L., Winter, K., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). 《新冠疫苗接种阴谋论与接种意愿的干预研究》，《欧洲健康传播期刊》（European Journal of Health Communication），3(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.47368/ejhc.2022.201