Production and reception of (mis)information: The resilience of attitude toward vaccination (Preprint)

Abstract

Before the pandemic, it was already recognized that internet-based misinformation and disinformation could influence individuals to refuse or delay vaccination for themselves, their families, or their children. Reinformation (i.e., hyperpartisan information, often ideologically-biased) – although not inherently disinformative – may add to the challenge of distorted information by propagating polarizing content, which has the potential to influence vaccine hesitancy.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of reinformation on vaccine hesitancy. Specifically, we aimed to understand how a news article’s writing style and presentation layout could influence the perceived tentativeness of COVID-19 vaccine information and confidence in COVID-19 vaccination.

We recruited 525 English-speaking Canadians (aged 18+ years) from across Canada to take part in a web-based randomized controlled trial (RCT). Participants were randomly assigned one of four versions of a news article on COVID-19 vaccines, with variations in writing style and presentation layout. After reading the news article, participants had to rate their perception of how tentative the information provided was, their confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, and their attitude toward vaccination in general.

In the presence of either an ideologically biased writing style or adherence to journalistic standards, the chi-square (χ2) analyses revealed a statistically significant association between the general attitude toward vaccination and the perceived tentativeness of the information about COVID-19 vaccines included in the news article (χ21 = 37.79, P < .0001). Participants who had a more positive attitude toward vaccines tended to perceive the information as more credible. An interaction was found between vaccines’ attitude and writing style; the more people have a non-favorable attitude toward vaccines in general, the less credibility they will give to a message aimed at informing them about COVID-19 vaccination (χ21 = 6.17, P = .01).

Misinformation may not have such a significant influence on individuals’ vaccination behavior. The study reveals that the predominant factor in shaping individuals’ perception of COVID-19 vaccines is their general attitude toward vaccination, and it also moderates the influence of writing style on perceived tentativeness; the stronger one’s opposition to vaccines, the less pronounced the influence of writing style on perceived tentativeness.

RR2-10.2196/41012