Social norms, political polarization, and vaccination attitudes: Evidence from a survey experiment in Turkey

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines the role of social norms and political polarization in shaping vaccination attitudes and behaviors in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a largescale representative survey experiment in Turkey, we first show that political affiliation is a strong predictor of attitudes towards vaccination. We then use standard economic games to measure the extent of polarization caused by subjects' attitudes towards vaccination. We find that pro- and anti-vaxxers discriminate each other substantially. Furthermore, when pro- and anti-vaxxers perceive a political difference between them, this polarization is exacerbated. Finally, using randomized informational treatments, we show that the promotion of a broadly shared social identity might mitigate this outgroup discrimination.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Papers of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ; No. 2023/8

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
• Subject: Impfung ; Meinung ; Soziale Norm ; Experiment ; Türkei

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kaba, Mustafa ; Koyuncu, Murat ; Schneider, Sebastian O. ; Sutter, Matthias
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/283131
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET