Cornelia Betsch

University of Erfurt | UE · Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour

Emphasizing herd immunity may increase or decrease vaccination motivation through prosocial or selfish motivations or have no effect at all. Despite extensive research, a quantitative synthesis of evidence is lacking. We conducted a systematic review and three- level meta-analysis regarding the impact of emphasizing herd immunity on vaccination mot...

Vaccine hesitancy has been identified as one of the top ten threats to global health by the World Health Organization (WHO). The belief in conspiracy narratives is repeatedly discussed as a major driver of vaccine hesitancy among the general population. However, there is a lack of research investigating the role of the belief in conspiracy narrativ...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic emphasized the importance of vaccinations for the prevention of life-threatening diseases and for avoiding the overburdening of the healthcare system. Despite the clear advantage of vaccinations, increasing vaccine hesitancy has been observed worldwide, especially among young people who are potential...

Objetivo: Individuos en algunos países tuvieron la opción de elegir entre diferentes vacunas, con algunas siendo percibidas menos favorables que otras, durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Investigaciones sobre el efecto señuelo sugieren que la preferencia para una opción (objetivo) aumenta cuando una opción inferior (señuelo) es añadida a el conjunto...

Background: Following the protection motivation theory (PMT), a lack of risk perception is one of the reasons for differences in vaccine uptake (Rogers, 1975). When the risk for diseases like seasonal influenza is underestimated, protective measures such as vaccination are used less. Aims: In this paper, we propose that the sequelae approach, which...

Communicating about climate change is challenging. It is multifaceted and requires inter- and transdisciplinary efforts, as well as trusted communicators. Perspectives from an interdisciplinary group of climate experts were used in a mixed methods approach to identify optimal climate change communicators. A sample from the general public (N = 974)...

One of the most important tools available to limit the spread and impact of infectious diseases is vaccination. It is therefore important to understand what factors determine people’s vaccination decisions. To this end, previous behavioural research made use of, (i) controlled but often abstract or hypothetical studies (e.g., vignettes) or, (ii) re...

Key messages: 1) Monitoring social media is important to understand public perceptions, biases, and false beliefs 2) Drawing conclusions on how social media affects health behaviour is difficult because measures are unstandardised, sources are limited, and data are incomplete and biased 3) Rigorous research is needed from varied settings and demog...

The contribution of vaccination to global health, especially in low-middle-income countries is one of the achievements in global governance of modern medicine, averting 2–3 million child deaths annually. However, in Nigeria, vaccine-preventable-diseases still account for one-in-eight child deaths before their fifth-year birthday. Nigeria is one of...

Introduction: To mitigate the global health threat posed by climate change, multifaceted responses are required. As shown in previous work, older, male, and highly educated individuals exhibit greater general readiness to act against climate change; the same is true of people living in larger communities. The present study investigates the relation...

The spread of misinformation through media and social networks threatens many aspects of society, including public health and the state of democracies. One approach to mitigating the effect of misinformation focuses on individual-level interventions, equipping policymakers and the public with essential tools to curb the spread and influence of fals...

Background The 5C psychological antecedents of vaccination (Confidence, Complacency, Constraints, Calculation, and Collective Responsibility) facilitate understanding vaccination decisions in specific target groups as well as the general public’s informational needs. This study aims to explain pre-pandemic vaccination behaviour (a) in general, (b)...

Vaccine effectiveness and safety concerns can prevent people from receiving their first Covid-19 vaccines or boosters. Understanding the vaccine mechanism may lead people to perceive vaccine effectiveness appropriately. This study tested whether helping people understand the vaccine’s mechanism could improve their perceived vaccine safety and effec...

The overprescription of antibiotics due to diagnostic uncertainty and inappropriate patient expectations influence antimicrobial resistance. This research assesses (i) whether communicating diagnostic uncertainty reduces expectations of receiving antibiotics and (ii) which communication strategies minimise unintended consequences of such communicat...

Introduction Physicians play a critical role in encouraging their patients to get vaccinated, in part by responding to patients’ concerns about vaccines. It is, therefore, important to understand what difficulties physicians have in dealing with different concerns they may encounter. The aim of this article was to determine physicians’ perceptions...

Background Germans hesitated to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca in the COVID-19 pandemic after reports of blood clots. Methods In two preregistered online experiments with stratified randomization (Study 1 N = 824, Study 2: N = 1,056), we tested whether providing evidence-based benefit-risk information reduces the perceived risk of the AstraZeneca...

Background Climate change is a paramount global health threat with multifaceted health implications. Societal change is required to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, as well as help people adapt to the associated health risks. This requires situation-specific, large-scale data that can help identify the relevant areas for policymakin...

Scientific information is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in science can help decision-makers act based on the best available evidence, especially during crises such as climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic 1,2. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low pub...

Science is integral to society because it can inform individual, government, corporate, and civil society decision-making on issues such as climate change. Yet, public distrust and populist sentiment may challenge the relationship between science and society. To help researchers analyse the science society nexus across different cultural contexts,...

Scientific information is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in science can help decision-makers act based on the best available evidence, especially during crises such as climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public...

For many people, COVID‐19 vaccination now informs social identity, triggering prejudice and discrimination toward those with a different vaccination status. As this may jeopardize social cohesion, we investigated the effects of three brief, theory‐informed interventions for reducing ingroup bias in a preregistered experimental intervention study in...

The Russian war against Ukraine is accompanied by a comprehensive global disinformation campaign that challenges the legitimacy of international support for Ukraine and questions Russia's responsibility for initiating the war. Inoculation has been proven a powerful tool against many forms of disinformation, however, its effectiveness can be impaire...

Until now, behavioural science in the climate change field has focused mainly on understanding and changing individual behaviours. However, in order to broaden the spectrum of behaviours to acknowledge the need for systemic change, this paper introduces a novel model showing that a trait-like ‘readiness to act against climate change’ explains varia...

As the world transitions to a postpandemic phase, societies are looking to evaluate their past responses to COVID-19 and prepare for future crises. However, a recently published series of studies1 sheds light on a concerning issue; sustained societal polarisation between the vaccinated and unvaccinated is distorting the accuracy of people's recall...

Context Long COVID can appear as a severe late consequence (sequela) of a COVID-19 infection, leading to the inability to work or participate in social life for an unknown amount of time. To see friends or family struggling with long COVID might influence people’s risk perceptions, vaccine efficacy expectations, and self-efficacy perceptions to pre...

Hintergrund: Der vorliegende Artikel ist der Abschluss des aktualisierten Sachstandsberichts Klimawandel und Gesundheit, der von über 30 nationalen Institutionen und Organisationen gemeinschaftlich verfasst wurde. Ziele sind (a) die Synthese der im Bericht formulierten Handlungsoptionen, (b) deren Zusammenführung in Cluster und Leitsätze, (c) die T...

Background The German status report on climate change and health 2023 identifies numerous health risks that are caused or exacerbated by climate change. One recommendation arising from the report is to strengthen education, information, and communication in the field. This article aims to serve as a basis for this. Methods Based on four survey wav...

Background This article represents the conclusion of the updated German status report on climate change and health, which was jointly written by authors from over 30 national institutions and organisations. The objectives are (a) to synthesise the options for action formulated in the report, (b) to combine them into clusters and guiding principles,...

The Covid pandemic has yielded new insights into psychological vaccine acceptance factors. This knowledge serves as a basis for behavioral and communication interventions that can increase vaccination readiness for other diseases.

Background The reasons for low vaccine acceptance in the elderly population are largely unknown – despite the great need of vaccines in this risk group. Moreover, while many studies assess the impact of factors surrounding vaccination, such as sociodemographic information, psychological factors, such as vaccine-specific attitudes, are not sufficien...

How people recall the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is likely to prove crucial in future societal debates on pandemic preparedness and appropriate political action. Beyond simple forgetting, previous research suggests that recall may be distorted by strong motivations and anchoring perceptions on the current situation1–6. Here, using 4 studies across 11 coun...

Background: There are many reasons why people decide for or against vaccination. Besides socio-demographic characteristics, the 5C antecedents of vaccination (confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation and collective responsibility) are a helpful tool for identifying target groups and the public’s broader informational needs. In this study,...

Objetivo: La resistencia antimicrobiana es una amenaza para la salud mundial perpetuada por la prescripción excesiva de antibióticos en la atención médica primaria. Una estrategia para reducir el uso de antibióticos en este contexto es retrasar la prescripción. Sin embargo, varios factores psicológicos pueden socavar su eficacia. El objetivo del es...

This research helps to clarify the relation between pandemic fatigue (PF) and vaccination intentions (VI). Theoretically, two patterns seem plausible. First, as with any other health protective measure, PF might reduce the motivation to get vaccinated. Second, PF might increase the motivation to get vaccinated because vaccination reduces the number...

The existence and nature of pandemic fatigue––defined as a gradually emerging subjective state of weariness and exhaustion from, and a general demotivation towards, following recommended health-protective behaviors, including keeping oneself informed during a pandemic––has been debated. Herein, we introduce the Pandemic Fatigue Scale and show how p...

The existence and nature of pandemic fatigue–defined as a gradually emerging subjective state of weariness and exhaustion from, and a general demotivation towards, following recommended health-protective behaviors, including keeping oneself informed during a pandemic–has been debated. Herein, we introduce the Pandemic Fatigue Scale and show how pan...

Background: Climate change is a paramount global health threat with multifaceted health implications. Societal change is required to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, as well as help people adapt to the associated health risks. This requires situation-specific, large-scale data that can help identify the relevant areas for policymaki...

How people recall the SARS-CoV2 pandemic is likely to prove crucial in future societal debates on pandemic preparedness and appropriate political action. Beyond simple forgetting, previous research suggests that recall may be distorted by strong motivations and anchoring perceptions on the current situation. Here, based on four studies across 11 co...

While climate change requires decisive and rapid action, public discourse on the appropriateness of climate policies has intensified in many countries. Based on a quota-representative sample from Germany (N = 1,014), we show that people form groups based on their climate policy opinions, and that identification with these groups relates to differen...

Background: Since 2000, vaccine coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has surpassed multiple milestones. Its contribution to global health, especially in low-middle-income countries is one of the achievements in global governance of modern medicine, averting 2-3 million child deaths every year. However, in Nigeria, vaccine-preventable-diseases still...

Vaccine hesitancy has become a threat to public health, especially as it is a phenomenon that has also been observed among healthcare professionals. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and vaccination attitudes and behaviors among healthcare professionals, using a cross-sec...

Mandatory vaccinations are widely debated since they restrict individuals’ autonomy in their health decisions. As healthcare professionals (HCPs) are a common target group of vaccine mandates, and also form a link between vaccination policies and the public, understanding their attitudes toward vaccine mandates is important. The present study inves...

Background: A fact box is a promising tool for benefit-risk communication. This compact table summarizes the benefits and harms of a health-related intervention and compares the intervention to a control group. Although previous research has demonstrated that fact boxes are well understood, little is known about how they affect risk perceptions. Ri...

Heatwaves are becoming more common and impact health. We conducted a representative survey in June 2022 in Germany to determine people's knowledge and protective behaviours on heat days. In data from 953 respondents, we found that a large proportion informed themselves about upcoming heat days, but there are considerable gaps in knowledge. While kn...

Background: When intensive care capacity is limited, triage may be required. Given that the German government started working on new triage legislation in 2022, the present study investigated the German public's preferences for intensive care allocation in two situations: ex-ante triage (where multiple patients compete for available resources) and...

Vaccination rates are still insufficient to prevent the spread of COVID‐19, so immunity must be increased among the population in order to reduce the virus’ spread and the associated medical and psychosocial effects. Although previous work has identified various factors associated with a low willingness to get vaccinated, the role of emotions such...

While psychological reactance is often invoked to explain the unintended boomerang effects of persuasive health messages, underlying processes that might explain how reactance affects behavior are rarely studied. We investigated whether messages that elicit reactance can bias attention by increasing the perception of information that potentially fa...

Background: It has been reported that a substantial number of COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic, with both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections contributing to transmission dynamics. Yet, the share of asymptomatic cases varies greatly across studies. One reason for this could be the measurement of symptoms in medical studies and surveys. Desi...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing was one of the more important behaviours for reducing the spread of the virus. The present study investigated the influence on pathogen avoidance of familiarity with other people at private gatherings. Based on the social identity model of risk taking and the theory of the behavioural immune system,...

Understanding individuals' preferences for antibiotics can help mitigate the acceleration of antibiotic resistance. Similar to the climate crisis, individuals "today" need to appropriately use antibiotics to reduce the negative consequences of antibiotic resistance for individuals "tomorrow." We use an established-yet novel in this research field-b...

As SARS-CoV-2 spreads especially when larger groups gather (e.g., at the workplace), it is crucial to understand compliance with regulations and recommendations in such settings. Using data from adults in Germany (N = 29,355) assessed between October 2021 and February 2022, we investigated factors associated with self-reported compliance in both pr...

This Comment piece summarises current challenges regarding routine vaccine uptake in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations on how to increase uptake. To implement these recommendations, the article points to evidence-based resources that can support health-care workers, policy makers and communicators.

Background Mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic requires continued uptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. To increase vaccination intention and uptake, key determinants of primary and booster vaccination need to be understood and potential effects of vaccination policies examined. Design Using experimental data collected in Germany in February 2022 ( N = 2...

Applying behavioural science can support system-level change for climate protection. Behavioural scientists should provide reliable large-scale data that help in understanding public perceptions and behaviours. Governments should secure infrastructure for data collection and the implementation of evidence.

This Comment piece summarises current challenges regarding routine vaccine uptake in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations on how to increase uptake. To implement these recommendations, the article points to evidence-based resources that can support health care workers, policy makers and communicators.

Public discord between those vaccinated and those unvaccinated for COVID-19 has intensified globally. Theories of intergroup relations propose that identifying with one’s social group plays a key role in the perceptions and behaviours that fuel intergroup conflict. We test whether identification with one’s vaccination status is associated with curr...

Der Mensch ist einer der Haupt-Wirte des Coronavirus. Wie wir die Pandemie wahrnehmen und uns verhalten, beeinflusst, wie sich die Pandemie entwickelt.

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 (wit...

Misinformation about mRNA vaccination is a barrier in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, authorities often rely on text-based refutations as a countermeasure. In two experiments ( N = 2,444), text-based refutations effectively reduced the belief in misinformation and immunized participants against the impact of a misleading socia...

Background In Germany, a measles vaccine mandate came into effect in March 2020, requiring proof of measles immunization for children attending kindergarten or school and for staff in a variety of facilities. Mandates can be successful if implemented with care and in a context-sensitive manner. They may, however, also lead to inequities and decreas...

Background: The Planetary Health Action Survey investigates the gap between scientific consensus and collective action to protect our planet's and our own health. Following a theory driven and theory testing approach, we aim to better understand social cognitive processes leading to citizens' readiness to act against climate change. Our findings c...

Misinformation and media reports about critical events in vaccine trials challenge public confidence in Covid-19 vaccine safety. Three online experiments using 2×2 between-subjects designs examined the impact of vaccine type, misinformation debunking, and critical events during vaccine trials. In Experiment 1, N = 984 participants received informat...

Background While the majority of the German population was fully vaccinated at the time (about 65%), COVID-19 incidence started growing exponentially in October 2021 with about 41% of recorded new cases aged twelve or above being symptomatic breakthrough infections, presumably also contributing to the dynamics. So far, it remained elusive how signi...

Background: COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake rates are behind the rate of primary vaccination in many countries. Governments and non-governmental institutions rely on a range of interventions aiming to increase booster uptake. Yet, little is known how experts and the general public evaluate these interventions. Methods: We applied a novel crowdsourc...

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, governments must make decisions based on a variety of information including estimations of infection spread, health care capacity, economic and psychosocial considerations. The disparate validity of current short-term forecasts of these factors is a major challenge to governments. By causally linking an establi...

Background The contribution of vaccination to global public health and community wellbeing has been described as one of the greatest success stories of modern medicine. However, 13.5 million children still miss at least one of their routine vaccinations, and this contributes to about 1.5 million deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. One of the...

Vaccine-preventable-diseases are major contributors to disease burden in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is dearth of knowledge on the drivers of childhood vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria and its impact on coverage. Although understudied, pregnant women are a particularly important vulnerable group and very relevant for childhood vaccination decisions. This...

Background: COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake rates are behind the rate of primary vaccination in many countries. Governments and non-governmental institutions rely on a range of interventions aiming to increase booster uptake. Yet, little is known how experts and the general public evaluate these interventions. Methods: We applied a novel crowdsourc...

The adoption and acceptance of protective measures are crucial for containing the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In a recent article in this journal, Dohle et al. (https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.4315) investigated the influence of risk perceptions and trust in politics and science on those constructs in March/April 2020. Since then,...

To reach high vaccination rates against COVID-19, children and adolescents should be also vaccinated. To improve childhood vaccination rates and vaccination readiness, parents need to be addressed since they decide about the vaccination of their children. We adapted the 7C of vaccination readiness scale to measure parents’ readiness to vaccinate th...

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 (wit...