The seductive allure of technical language and the effect on covid-19 vaccine intentions

Background: Previous research has demonstrated a ‘seductive allure’ of technical or reductive language. Specifically, bad explanations – i.e., those presenting circular restatements of a phenomenon or other non-explanatory information – are judged better explanations when irrelevant technical language is included. Methods: Using a between subjects design we presented participants (N=996) with one of four possible vignettes that explain how covid-19 vaccinations and herd immunity works. The explanations varied along two factors: (1) Quality, explanations were either good or bad (tautological); (2) Language, explanations either contained unnecessary technical language or did not. We measured participants’ evaluation of the explanations (‘how good’ and ‘how satisfying’ they were) and subsequent intentions to vaccinate. Results: We demonstrate a novel ‘seductive allure’ effect of technical language on vaccine information. Including unnecessary technical language in informative explanations resulted in them being judged worse. However, including irrelevant technical terminology in bad quality explanations resulted in them being judged better. Importantly, we also observe indirect effects of the evaluation of explanations on behavioural intentions to vaccinate. Conclusions: We show that explanatory public health information that omits reductive technical language is more effective in increasing public intentions to vaccinate. We also suggest that misinformation that includes technical language could be more detrimental to vaccination rates.