The current measles outbreak has separated the pro-vaxxers from the anti-vaxxers on what should be considered an evidence-based, non-issue. Unfortunately, agreeing to disagree just isn’t in the cards when it comes to misinformation and biased interpretations of the facts that has led to many sick children and fearful parents.
Telling anti-vaxxers they are just plain wrong could actually be adding fuel to the fire, according to some new research published in the journal Pediatrics.
The inability to budge on the vaccination issue could have more to do with general trust of “the system,” and science just doesn’t mean much when skepticism is alive and well.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
As Tom Stafford explained for IFLScience:
We might expect anti-vaxxers to have friends who are also anti-vaxxers (and so reinforce their mistaken beliefs) and to correspondingly have a low belief that pro-vaccine messengers such as scientists, government agencies and journalists have their best interests at heart. The corollary is that no amount of information from these sources – and no matter how persuasive to you and me – will convert anti-vaxxers who have different beliefs about how trustworthy the medical establishment is.
Even if anti-vaxxers understand the scientific information to be true, it still doesn’t mean they will change their mind.
Interestingly, research done by Brendan Nyhan has shown many anti-vaxxers are willing to drop mistaken beliefs about vaccines, but as they do so they also harden in their intentions not to get their kids vaccinated. This shows that the scientific beliefs of people who oppose vaccinations are only part of the issue – facts alone, even if believed, aren’t enough to change people’s views.
Not only is this representative of the biased assimilation effect, it also demonstrates that trying to convince anyone that their belief is a myth actually solidifies that myth’s position in reality as opposed to legitimately shifting perspective.
A single discredited study from 1998 claimed a link between autism and the MMR jab, fuelling the recent distrust of vaccines. No matter how many times we repeat that “the MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism,” the link between the two is reinforced in people’s perceptions. To avoid reinforcing a myth, you need to provide a plausible alternative – the obvious one here is to replace the negative message “MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism,” with a positive one. Perhaps “the MMR vaccine protects your child from dangerous diseases.”
The vaccination situation is very serious. And it’s a little bit difficult to accept that progress might have more to do with semantics than hard evidence, but it appears to be the case that spitting out information in an attempt to educate isn’t having the impact we’d hope for.
[Photo from Flickr user Alex Berger]
