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A taxonomy of anti-vaccination arguments from a systematic literature review and text modelling

Author

Listed:
  • Angelo Fasce

    (University of Coimbra)

  • Philipp Schmid

    (University of Erfurt
    Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine)

  • Dawn L. Holford

    (University of Bristol
    University of Essex)

  • Luke Bates

    (Technical University of Darmstadt)

  • Iryna Gurevych

    (Technical University of Darmstadt)

  • Stephan Lewandowsky

    (University of Bristol
    University of Western Australia
    University of Potsdam)

Abstract

The proliferation of anti-vaccination arguments is a threat to the success of many immunization programmes. Effective rebuttal of contrarian arguments requires an approach that goes beyond addressing flaws in the arguments, by also considering the attitude roots—that is, the underlying psychological attributes driving a person’s belief—of opposition to vaccines. Here, through a pre-registered systematic literature review of 152 scientific articles and thematic analysis of anti-vaccination arguments, we developed a hierarchical taxonomy that relates common arguments and themes to 11 attitude roots that explain why an individual might express opposition to vaccination. We further validated our taxonomy on coronavirus disease 2019 anti-vaccination misinformation, through a combination of human coding and machine learning using natural language processing algorithms. Overall, the taxonomy serves as a theoretical framework to link expressed opposition of vaccines to their underlying psychological processes. This enables future work to develop targeted rebuttals and other interventions that address the underlying motives of anti-vaccination arguments.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelo Fasce & Philipp Schmid & Dawn L. Holford & Luke Bates & Iryna Gurevych & Stephan Lewandowsky, 2023. "A taxonomy of anti-vaccination arguments from a systematic literature review and text modelling," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(9), pages 1462-1480, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:7:y:2023:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01644-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01644-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Amelia Blamey & Ilan Noy, 2024. "Mistrust and Missed Shots: Trust and Covid-19 Vaccination Decisions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11134, CESifo.
    2. Kevin Winter & Matthew J. Hornsey & Lotte Pummerer & Kai Sassenberg, 2024. "Public agreement with misinformation about wind farms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Dawn Holford & Ezequiel Lopez-Lopez & Angelo Fasce & Linda C. Karlsson & Stephan Lewandowsky, 2024. "Identifying the underlying psychological constructs from self-expressed anti-vaccination argumentation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.

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