Giancola Marco, Palmiero Massimiliano, D'Amico Simonetta
Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Department of Communication Sciences, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
Curr Psychol. 2023 Mar 31:1-13. doi: 10.1007/s12144-023-04609-x.
With the spread of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the mass vaccination plan represents the primary weapon to control the infection curve. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy also spread out worldwide. This led to exploring the critical factors that prevent vaccination from improving the efficacy of vaccine campaigns. In the present study, the role of the Dark Triad (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) in vaccine hesitancy was investigated, considering the sequential mediating effects of conspiracy beliefs and risk perception. Via a cross-sectional design, the study was conducted with 210 participants surveyed using an online questionnaire to assess the Dark Triad, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy beliefs, risk perception, and a set of demographic and socio-cultural control variables. Results showed that conspiracy beliefs and risk perception fully mediated the association between the Dark Triad and vaccine hesitancy. This finding suggested that albeit personality accounts for individual differences in human behaviour, vaccine hesitancy is also affected by irrational and false beliefs that, in turn, weaken the risk perception associated with COVID-19. Implications and future research directions were discussed.
随着2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的蔓延，大规模疫苗接种计划是控制感染曲线的主要武器。不幸的是，疫苗犹豫也在全球范围内蔓延。这促使人们探索阻碍疫苗接种、影响疫苗接种活动效果的关键因素。在本研究中，考虑到阴谋论信念和风险认知的顺序中介效应，研究了黑暗三性格（精神病态、马基雅维利主义和自恋）在疫苗犹豫中的作用。通过横断面设计，对210名参与者进行了在线问卷调查，以评估黑暗三性格、疫苗犹豫、阴谋论信念、风险认知以及一系列人口统计学和社会文化控制变量。结果表明，阴谋论信念和风险认知完全中介了黑暗三性格与疫苗犹豫之间的关联。这一发现表明，尽管人格因素导致了人类行为的个体差异，但疫苗犹豫也受到非理性和错误信念的影响，而这些信念反过来又削弱了与COVID-19相关的风险认知。文中还讨论了研究的意义和未来的研究方向。
