Российский психологический журнал (Jul 2021)
Cognitive Aspects of Students’ Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccination
Abstract
Introduction. In the context of a large-scale transmission of the new coronavirus infection, it seems very important, relevant, and useful to examine and identify psychological factors affecting the refusal to vaccinate, caused by mistrust or uncertainty about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, doubts about its benefits and concerns about uncontrolled consequences. This study is the first report of the cognitive aspects of students’ attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination that lead to their refusal to vaccinate. Methods. The study involved 76 university students (M = 20.63; SD = 2.38; 56 females and 20 males). For data collection, the author used the original questionnaire, aimed at identifying subjective attitudes towards the vaccine and vaccination against COVID-19, and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale by D. K. Ahorsu et al.; data was interpreted using frequency, correlation, and P. Verges’ prototypical analyses. Results and Discussion. Against the background of a predominantly low level of COVID-19 fear, it was revealed that the majority of study participants had a negative attitude towards vaccination, expressed in their refusal of potential vaccination (63 respondents). The most frequent reasons for refusal were mistrust, fear of consequences, unreliability of the vaccine, and the presence of antibodies. It was identified that the central core of representations of the vaccine reflected formally neutral associations, lack of axiological and emotionally charged notions, absence of relevant personal meanings, whereas the periphery included important descriptors indicating ambivalent attitude towards possible consequences of vaccination. The results obtained were interpreted in the context of cognitive aberrations actualized in situations of uncertainty, including exaggeration of one’s own awareness, illusion of competence, imposed delusions, egocentric bias, illusion of control, illusory correlation, and cognitive dissonance.
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