Experiencing herd immunity in virtual reality increases COVID-19 vaccination intention: Evidence from a large-scale field intervention study

Adéla Plechatá; Clara Vandeweerdt; Michael Atchapero; Tiffany Luong; Christian Holz; Cornelia Betsch; Bonnie Dietermann; Yori Schultka; Robert Böhm; Guido Makransky

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107533

Experiencing herd immunity in virtual reality increases COVID-19 vaccination intention: Evidence from a large-scale field intervention study

Comput Human Behav. 2023 Feb:139:107533. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107533. Epub 2022 Oct 17.

Authors

Adéla Plechatá¹, Clara Vandeweerdt², Michael Atchapero¹, Tiffany Luong³, Christian Holz³, Cornelia Betsch^{4

5

6}, Bonnie Dietermann⁷, Yori Schultka⁷, Robert Böhm^{1

8

9}, Guido Makransky¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353, Copenhagen, Denmark.
² Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ Department of Computer Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 6, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland.
⁴ Media and Communication Science, University of Erfurt, Nordhäuser Str. 63, 99089, Erfurt, Germany.
⁵ Center for Empirical Research in Economics and Behavioral Sciences, University of Erfurt, Nordhäuser Str. 63, 99089, Erfurt, Germany.
⁶ Health Communication, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Bernhard Nocht Str. 74, 20359, Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Department of Occupational, Economic, And Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Universitätsstrasse 7, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
⁹ Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of an immersive virtual reality (VR) simulation of herd immunity on vaccination intentions and its potential underlying mechanisms. In this preregistered field study, N = 654 participants were randomly assigned to one of the three VR conditions: (1) Gamified Herd Immunity; (2) Gamified Herd Immunity + Empathy (with additional narrative elements); (3) Control (gamified with no vaccination-related content). In the Gamified Herd Immunity simulation, participants embodied a vulnerable person and navigated a wedding venue trying to avoid getting infected. A total of 455 participants with below maximum intentions to take a novel vaccine and without severe cybersickness were analyzed. The Gamified Herd Immunity + Empathy and the Gamified Herd Immunity conditions increased vaccination intentions by 6.68 and 7.06 points on a 0-100 scale, respectively, compared to 1.91 for the Control condition. The Gamified Herd Immunity + Empathy condition enhanced empathy significantly more than the Gamified Herd Immunity condition but did not result in higher vaccination intentions. Experienced presence was related to the change in vaccination intentions. The results suggest that VR vaccination communication can effectively increase vaccination intentions; the effect is not solely due to the technological novelty and does not depend on empathy.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Herd immunity; Vaccine advocacy; Vaccine hesitancy; Virtual reality.