About This Project

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, roughly 50% of the American population is fully vaccinated. Several factors influence people’s willingness or reluctance to be vaccinated, and this will be investigated from a behavioral science perspective. Understanding people’s opinions towards public-health policies could augment scientific knowledge in human behavior; furthermore, it may help predict future vaccination rate trends.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The development of different Covid-19 vaccines is a milestone in controlling the pandemic. According to different studies, vaccination is an efficient method to prevent the spread of the disease by favoring the production of antibodies. In the United States, vaccines are free of charge and are relatively easy to obtain; however, only 46% are fully vaccinated. Some scientists and people are against the idea of getting vaccinated, despite its potential benefits. Reasons include the potential side effects, the lack of trust in vaccines or in the institutions that manufacture them. It seems that people are polarized regarding their opinions about the vaccine. How and why is this happening? What are some factors that contribute to people’s decisions?

What is the significance of this project?

Using behavioral science methods will provide insights into human cognition. It may answer whether heuristics have an influence on the decision-making process and to what extent. Moreover, it may predict whether participants are more likely to get vaccinated depending on their cognitive biases, political inclinations, or socioeconomic backgrounds. This could result in further studies and applications such as brain activity when experiencing cognitive biases. Furthermore, the experiment could be replicated across the country for generalization. Public health officials will have a better understanding of the way people react to current policies; moreover, they may be able to hypothesize people’s reactions to future public programs.

What are the goals of the project?

The main goal is to understand the factors involved in the decision-making process of taking the Covid-19 vaccine. An important factor that will be considered is cognitive biases. It is of interest to determine whether participants show omission, confirmation, optimism, or negative bias when reasoning whether to vaccinate. Thus, the study will try to determine if there is a correlation between these biases and vaccination decisions, and hence provide possible explanations for people’s behavior. In addition, it will consider political inclinations and their effect on the decision-making process. Lastly, this project will consider the socio-economic background of participants and how this may affect their decisions towards getting vaccinated or not.