This open acess book explores vaccine hesitancy as a primarily psychological phenomenon rather than a purely medical one. By analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic, it provides an evidence-based guide on how fear, social influence, and misinformation impact public health compliance.

The authors aim to equip educators, journalists, and policymakers with effective tools to Understand the psychological mechanisms behind skepticism, Strengthen arguments in favor of vaccinations, Counteract misinformation and demagogic rhetoric regarding personal freedom.

The ultimate goal is to influence human behavior and attitudes, ensuring society is psychologically prepared for future health crises like upcoming pandemics.

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access Provides knowledge and tools to increase vaccination uptake and fight hesitancy by using psychological tools Uses evidence-based knowledge to provide a practical guide to prepare for vaccinations in future pandemics Vaccination hesitancy (VH) is also a psychological issue. This manuscript delivers a possibility in reducing VH

Autorentext

Wojciech Kulesza Professor, vice-chair of Warsaw s Science Festival, chair of social psychology department. Researches, publishes, and teaches: mimicry/the chameleon effect (The Pulse/NPR Interview), social biases in decision making, and psychology of love. Member of the Scientific Committee of the Polish Psychological Association. Publishes articles for the general public.

Dariusz Dolinski Professor and chair, head of social psychology department in SWPS University, Department of Psychology in Wroclaw, past president of Polish Association of Social Psychology and past editor-in-chief of Polish Psychological Bulletin.Researcher working in the area of social influence. Author of 24 books and more than 250 articles. Currently involved in interdisciplinary research concerning the anti-vaccination movement.

Tomasz Grzyb Professor of Psychology at SWPS University in Wroclaw and former President of the Polish Social Psychological Society. He researches social influence and field methods, serves as Editor-in-Chief of Polish Psychological Bulletin, and is Dean of the Faculty of Psychology in Wroclaw at SWPS University.

Klappentext

This open access book examines psychology and vaccination, vaccination hesitancy. It is clear that eagerness to vaccinate or not is not only a medical issue, but first and foremost a psychological one. Fear, social influence, hesitancy toward medical misinformation, communication between patient and medical professional - all of these are psychological aspects that are tackled in this book. Why are they relevant? The COVID-19 pandemic was the first pandemic of our times. This book stems from this period and builds a practical guide for upcoming pandemics in terms of tackling the problem of vaccination hesitancy using evidence-based knowledge. COVID-19 clearly showed that eagerness to vaccinate and follow medical recommendations are crucial for combating pandemics. This book sets out to not only understand the past COVID-19 pandemic, but first and foremost provide psychological preparations for future ones.

This book is for all those who believe in spreading the doctrine of vaccinations, educational programs, halting the spread of the lie that vaccines are harmful or unnecessary, and stopping the madness hiding behind demagogic slogans of personal freedom. We wrote it for those who want to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying skepticism about vaccinations and, above all, to boost the effectiveness of arguments in favor of vaccinations. We make no secret of the fact that we want to influence people's attitudes and human behavior in this way so that such books do not have to be written in the future. We would like it to be read by journalists and teachers, influencers and celebrities, politicians and local government officials of all levels.

Inhalt

1.Inoculation - a Vaccine Against Anti-Vaccine Arguments.- 2.An Online Dialogue Simulation: the FLORA Application as a Social Influence Tool to Counteract Misinformation and Promote Public Health.- 3.Short Course in Critical Thinking as a Method of Undermining Skeptical Attitudes Towards Immunization.- 4.Seeking Ways of Understanding Amidst Uncertainty: On the Role of Trust (Not Just in Science) in Discussions on Vaccination.- 5.The Role of Social Policy: Dependent and Independent Decision Attributes and Behavioral Interventions in Vaccination Choices.- 6.Who's Talking About Vaccines and to Whom? The Construction of the Actor in Anti-Vaccine Discourse.- 7.The Use of Mimicry to Promote Vaccination Uptake.- 8.Exposing the Source of Disinformation as a Means of Countering Anti-Vaccine Propaganda.- 9.Authority and Persuasion.- 10.Cognitive Bias - Understanding the Anti-Vaxxer.- 11.The Political Psychology of Vaccination: Ideology, Sense of Control, and Conspiracy Theories in Public Health.- 12.Morality and Vaccination.- 13.Vaccines, Vaccinations, and Psychology: Cross-cultural Perspectives.- 14.Vaccines, Vaccinations, and Psychology: The Role of Digital Platforms.