Resistance to vaccination can be explained by reactance theory

V Sloveniji smo se v letu 2020 znašli v obdobju, katerega je tik pred začetkom pomladi preplavil nov virus, imenovan covid-19. V tistem času sta pri prebivalcih Slovenije vladala strah ter negotovost, ker se je virus začel hitro širiti, zato smo na državni ravni zaradi pandemije sprejeli več ukrepov za preprečevanje širjenja okužb. Ena izmed najučinkovitejših načinov zaščite je cepljenje, vendar se je v Sloveniji cepilo le okoli 50 % vseh prebivalcev. Razlog slabe precepljenosti bi lahko iskali oziroma razložili s teorijo o psihološki reaktanci. Psihološko reaktanco občutimo vsi ljudje v vsakodnevnem življenju, izkusimo pa jo že v zgodnjem otroštvu. Enostaven primer za to je, da ko otroku nekaj prepovemo, postane prepovedano zanj še bolj zanimivo in privlačno. Vsak človek verjame, da ima določene svoboščine. Kadar je katerakoli od teh svoboščin ogrožena, posameznik hitro dobi motivacijo za povrnitev ogrožene svoboščine in preprečitev izgube ostalih. Z nenehnim poročanjem in pozivanjem k cepljenju proti covidu-19 mediji (nezavedno) pritiskajo na posameznike, to pa lahko pri nekaterih prebudi odziv, ki ga poimenujemo psihološka reaktanca, rezultat pa se nato kaže v odporu do cepljenja. Ali se bo posameznik sploh uprl ter kako močno, pa je odvisno od tega, s kakšno pomembnostjo vrednoti ogroženo svoboščino, ter od deleža še drugih svobodnih vedenj, ki so mu preostale. Ker pa se posamezniki med seboj razlikujejo v tem, kako močno je nekdo podvržen reaktančnemu vedenju, so se v preteklosti oblikovale različne metode za merjenje moči psihološke reaktance. Opravljene so bile številne raziskave (s pomočjo lestvic za ugotavljanje in merjenje reaktance), s katerimi so raziskovalci ugotavljali različne značilnosti oseb in skupin ter njihove povezave z močjo reaktančnega odziva. Na koncu smo še preučili odnos do cepljenja v Sloveniji in s primerom študije, izvedene v Nemčiji, raziskovali posledice dveh omejitev cepljenja proti covidu-19.In Slovenia in the year 2020, just before the beginning of spring, we entered a »period of covid-19«. During this time, the population of Slovenia was in a state of fear and uncertainty, as the virus began to spread, consequently several measures were taken at the national level to prevent the spreading of the virus. One of the most effective ways of protection is vaccination, but only about 50 % of the whole population in Slovenia has been vaccinated. The reason for the low vaccination rate could be explained by the theory of psychological reactance. Psychological reactance is experienced by all people in their daily lives, it is experienced as early as in childhood. To give a simple examplewhen we forbid something to a child, the forbidden becomes even more interesting and attractive to them. Every human being believes that they have certain freedoms. When any of these freedoms are threatened, the individual develops a motivational state to restore the threatened freedom and to prevent the loss of other freedoms. By constantly reporting obout coronavirus and appealling for vaccination, the media (unconsciously) puts pressure on individuals, which can awaken a response in people, called psychological reactance, the result of which then manifests itself in resistance to vaccination. Whether an individual will resist at all, and how strongly, depends on how much they value the threatened freedom, and the proportion of remaining free behaviours they have left. However, because individuals differ in how strongly one is subject to reactance behaviour, different methods have been devised in the past to measure the strength of psychological reactance. Numerous studies have been conducted (using scales to identify and measure reactance) to investigate various characteristics of persons and groups and their associations with the strength of reactance response. Finally, we examined different attitudes towards vaccination in the Republic of Slovenia and explored the consequences of two restrictions on vaccination against covid-19, using the example of a study that has been carried out in Germany