SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Vaccine skeptics actually think differently than other people:
In 2000, the measles virus was declared eliminated from the United States. Despite cases coming in from outside the country, there were few outbreaks because most people were vaccinated against measles. And then 2019 happened.
The U.S. saw 1,282 confirmed cases in 31 states -- the greatest number reported since 1992, with nearly three-fourths linked to recent outbreaks in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most cases were among people who were not vaccinated against measles.
After events like this, many people express confusion about others' hesitancy or unwillingness to get vaccinated or to vaccinate their children, a concept called vaccine skepticism. As vaccine skepticism has become increasingly widespread, two researchers in the Texas Tech University Department of Psychological Sciences have suggested a possible explanation.
In an article published recently in the journal Vaccine, Mark LaCour and Tyler Davis suggest some people find vaccines risky because they overestimate the likelihood of negative events, particularly those that are rare.
The fact that these overestimations carry over through all kinds of negative events -- not just those related to vaccines -- suggests that people higher in vaccine skepticism actually may process information differently than people lower in vaccine skepticism, said Davis, an associate professor of experimental psychology and director of the Caprock FMRI Laboratory.
"We might have assumed that people who are high in vaccine skepticism would have overestimated the likelihood of negative vaccine-related events, but it is more surprising that this is true for negative, mortality-related events as a broader category," Davis said. "Here we saw an overestimation of rare events for things that don't have anything to do with vaccination. This suggests that there are basic cognitive or affective variables that influence vaccine skepticism."
[...] "Do some people encode scary stories -- for instance, hearing about a child that has a seizure after getting vaccinated -- more strongly than others and then consequently remember these anecdotes more easily?" he asked. "Do they instead have certain attitudes and search their memory harder for evidence to support this belief? Is it a bit of both? How can you counteract these processes?
"I'm excited that we're finding basic, cognitive factors that are linked with vaccine skepticism: It could end up being a way of reaching this diverse group."
Mark LaCour, Tyler Davis. Vaccine skepticism reflects basic cognitive differences in mortality-related event frequency estimation. Vaccine, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.052
(Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Friday April 17 2020, @05:19AM (9 children)
Anti-vaccers could be a symptom of falling trust in our leaders and institutions. It could also be influenced by our low-trust society. Diversity is necessarily our strength.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @06:02AM
The only cure is another dose of snake oil. I only hope there are insurance salesmen licking their lips at this news.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @07:45AM
Just look at those Flat Earthers...
Same for the 9/11 bunch, there are lots of stuff that's suspicious about the official version and explanation of the events, but some can even think the buildings were taken down by micronukes!
Just because some lake smells fishy doesn't mean you go drink from a septic tank.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday April 17 2020, @12:57PM (3 children)
Absolutely: if you thought your doctor was incompetent and uncaring and only got his job through giving his boss lots of money, would you want him to operate on you?
Or diagnose your illness?
Or prescribe for you?
And can this 'expert' guarantee you won't die or become disabled by the vaccine?
Dogs...they couldn't even get it right with Covid-19: "It's airborne, but don't bother wearing a mask."....yeah: I'll listen to stupid...right...
How many people here trust YOUR government is doing things in YOUR best interest?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @04:38PM (1 child)
So many questions. You sound very intelligent.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday April 17 2020, @11:10PM
So much trolling. You sound very psychotic.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Sunday April 19 2020, @12:52PM
Doctors get bonuses and payoffs for prescriptions written. There are websites where they arrange to fuck pharmaceutical reps in exchange for prescriptions written.
Our leaders regularly do things not in the citizens' best interests. I don't think a list here is necessary or we'll just squabble over the items on it.
Low-trust. Falling respect and confidence.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday April 17 2020, @06:20PM (1 child)
It is NOT just failing trust. I have a lack of trust in leaders and institutions. Others have lack of trust, yet we don't embrace flat-earth and anti-vax and conspiracy theories.
It is really just stupidity. Maybe combined with lack of trust. But the essential ingredient here is three parts of stupidity to one part of failing trust.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @12:03AM
Ignorance is NOT bliss.
While a description of symptoms from a medical textbook may seriously scare a child, it will surely teach one healthy respect for the thing so described.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 19 2020, @12:41AM
"Diversity is necessarily our strength."
How very true, quite progressive of you.