Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective

INTRODUCTION: Endorsing conspiracy theories seems to constitute a major feature of contemporary collective anti-vaccine movements (Vignaud & Salvadori, 2019). As revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this contributes to increased worldwide vaccine hesitancy (de Figueiredo et al., 2020). OBJECTIVES:...

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Autores principales: Khachouf, O.T., Saraga, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9567674/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1276
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author Khachouf, O.T.
Saraga, M.
author_facet Khachouf, O.T.
Saraga, M.
author_sort Khachouf, O.T.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Endorsing conspiracy theories seems to constitute a major feature of contemporary collective anti-vaccine movements (Vignaud & Salvadori, 2019). As revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this contributes to increased worldwide vaccine hesitancy (de Figueiredo et al., 2020). OBJECTIVES: The present work aims at providing novel insight into the collective psychological underpinnings of conspiracy-based vaccine discourses. METHODS: Our approach is inspired by Jung’s view that human groups produce narratives to project their collective conflicts (e.g., social, religious, political) onto reality. We analyze these projections in relation to the “halo effect” phenomenon, namely taking metaphorical extensions of (scientific) concepts at face value (e.g. Keller, 1995). Accordingly, we discuss one version of “the Great Reset” theory, claiming that COVID-19 vaccines are used by “the elite” to control behavior and abolish fundamental freedoms. RESULTS: Our analysis suggests that Western societies are manifesting some of their existential concerns through anti-vaccine discourse. In “the Great Reset” narrative, characters (people, vaccines, elites, immune systems, etc.) and plot can be read as symbols of, respectively, structural elements of the collective psyche (socio-cultural values, aggressive drives, death anxiety, psychic defenses, etc.), and dynamic interrelations among these elements. CONCLUSIONS: Conspiracy theories can be understood as shared narratives serving the purpose of giving shape to collective fears. Within such a framework, references to “vaccines” and “immunity” are the manifestations of a state of crisis of collective psychic defenses. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships.
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spelling pubmed-95676742022-10-17 Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective Khachouf, O.T. Saraga, M. Eur Psychiatry Abstract INTRODUCTION: Endorsing conspiracy theories seems to constitute a major feature of contemporary collective anti-vaccine movements (Vignaud & Salvadori, 2019). As revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this contributes to increased worldwide vaccine hesitancy (de Figueiredo et al., 2020). OBJECTIVES: The present work aims at providing novel insight into the collective psychological underpinnings of conspiracy-based vaccine discourses. METHODS: Our approach is inspired by Jung’s view that human groups produce narratives to project their collective conflicts (e.g., social, religious, political) onto reality. We analyze these projections in relation to the “halo effect” phenomenon, namely taking metaphorical extensions of (scientific) concepts at face value (e.g. Keller, 1995). Accordingly, we discuss one version of “the Great Reset” theory, claiming that COVID-19 vaccines are used by “the elite” to control behavior and abolish fundamental freedoms. RESULTS: Our analysis suggests that Western societies are manifesting some of their existential concerns through anti-vaccine discourse. In “the Great Reset” narrative, characters (people, vaccines, elites, immune systems, etc.) and plot can be read as symbols of, respectively, structural elements of the collective psyche (socio-cultural values, aggressive drives, death anxiety, psychic defenses, etc.), and dynamic interrelations among these elements. CONCLUSIONS: Conspiracy theories can be understood as shared narratives serving the purpose of giving shape to collective fears. Within such a framework, references to “vaccines” and “immunity” are the manifestations of a state of crisis of collective psychic defenses. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships. Cambridge University Press 2022-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9567674/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1276 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstract
Khachouf, O.T.
Saraga, M.
Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title_full Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title_fullStr Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title_full_unstemmed Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title_short Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a Jungian perspective
title_sort vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy theories: a jungian perspective
topic Abstract
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9567674/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1276
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