A little shot of humility: Intellectual humility predicts vaccination attitudes and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19

Abstract

Vaccinations remain a critical, albeit surprisingly controversial, health behavior, especially with the promise of widely available COVID-19 vaccine. Intellectual humility, a virtue characterized by nonjudgmental recognition of one's own intellectual fallibility, may counter rigidity associated with anti-vaccination attitudes and help promote vaccine-related behaviors. This study investigated whether intellectual humility is related to anti-vaccination attitudes and intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19, and whether intellectual humility can predict unique variance in these outcomes beyond participant demographic and personal factors. Participants (N = 351, 57.23% male, mean age = 37.41 years, SD = 11.51) completed a multidimensional measure for intellectual humility, the anti-vaccination attitudes (VAX) scale, and a two-item COVID-19 vaccination intention scale. Bivariate correlations demonstrated that intellectual humility was negatively related with anti-vaccination attitudes overall, r(349) = −.46, p