Priming congruence and COVID-19 vaccination intention: a mediation analysis

Abstract

Background This study took place at the height of the fifth wave of COVID-19 in France, coinciding with stigmatizing communication toward the unvaccinated. We hypothesized that adherence to this communication would facilitate or inhibit the effects of priming on vaccination intention, depending on whether the priming included a dimension of connection to others. Participants and procedure In a convenience online French sample (N = 1800, M age = 26.30), vaccination intention was asked after love priming, no love/prejudice priming, materialism priming, or a control condition. Participants also reported their adherence to restrictive measures, i.e., media control, vaccination pass, and mandatory vaccination. Results Vaccination intention was higher in the no love/prejudice and materialism conditions than in the love and control condi-tions. Adherence to restrictive measures mediated the effect of prejudice or materialism priming on intention to get vaccinated. Conclusions Implications of these results are discussed in light of the socially situated cognition perspective and the congruence of (a) a societal context of communication toward the vaccine and the unvaccinated, (b) the participant’s degree of adherence to that communication, (c) the theme of priming, whether or not related to feeling connected to others. Implications of mate-rialism priming are discussed, and the effect of commitment on intention to get vaccinated.

Keywords

• prejudice
• love
• materialism
• socially situated cognition