A study published in Pediatrics in 2014 (volume 133, pages e835–e842), titled 'Effective messages in vaccine promotion: a randomized trial,' found that exposure to scientific facts about vaccination can paradoxically make people less likely to vaccinate, a phenomenon known as a 'backfire effect.'
Sources
- Analogies for modeling belief dynamics: Trends in Cognitive Sciences (cell.com)
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24590751/ (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260485891_Effective_Messages_in_Vaccine_Promotion_A_Randomized_Trial (researchgate.net)
- https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/03/vaccine-denial-psychology-backfire-effect/ (motherjones.com)
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368120300516 (sciencedirect.com)
- https://www.unicef.org/media/93661/file/Vaccinemessagingguide.pdf (unicef.org)