Abstract:
This experiment explores the effects of metaphors and disease commonality on resistance towards vaccination. Participants (N=187) were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions where their resistance to vaccination was assessed. The goal of this study was to find out whether using novel metaphor, conventional metaphor or no metaphor to describe common versus uncommon diseases in a persuasive text about vaccination triggered motivated resistance to persuasion (MRP). Neither metaphors nor disease commonality had a main effect on MRP. However, an interaction was found between type of metaphor and type of disease. Conventional metaphors were found to increase MRP more than literal language when used to describe common diseases. These findings reveal that metaphors can sometimes create resistance rather than being persuasive. This suggests that literal language should be preferred over certain types of metaphors to promote vaccination against common diseases.
