ArticlePloS one2016
Stimulating Influenza Vaccination via Prosocial Motives.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04960228 (Enhancing COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions by Eliciting Prosocial Altruistic Motives), which is not on this map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Enhancing COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions by Eliciting Prosocial Altruistic Motives: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Brief Video-Based Intervention
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Behavioral interventions for vaccination uptake: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Pooled it
- Vaccinating for My Family or for My Community? The Effect of Message Framing on Parental Intention to Vaccinate during the COVID Pandemic.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Trial
- "Let's get back to normal": emotions mediate the effects of persuasive messages on willingness to vaccinate for COVID-19.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Trial
- The Efficacy of a Brief, Altruism-Eliciting Video Intervention in Enhancing COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions Among a Population-Based Sample of Younger Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Trial
- Bandwagoning, free-riding and heterogeneity in influenza vaccine decisions: An online experiment.Health economics · 2022Trial
- Information nudges for influenza vaccination: Evidence from a large-scale cluster-randomized controlled trial in Finland.PLoS medicine · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Behavioural nudges increase COVID-19 vaccinations.Nature · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Limits of the social-benefit motive among high-risk patients: a field experiment on influenza vaccination behaviour.BMC public health · 2020Trial
- Understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black pregnant individuals: a mixed methods study of social media messenger and content type preferences.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Motivational effectiveness of prosocial public health messaging to reduce respiratory infection risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- The role of interdependent self-construal in mitigating the effect of conspiratorial beliefs on vaccine acceptance.The British journal of social psychology · 2025Article
- Behavioral and social drivers of COVID-19 vaccination initiation in the US: a longitudinal study March─ October 2021.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- Prosocial Behaviour and Antibiotic Resistance: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment.The patient · 2024Article
- The Effect of Nudging on Compliance with Individual Prevention Measures against COVID-19: An Online Experiment on Greek University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Warming up cool cooperators.Nature human behaviour · 2023Article
- Facilitators of and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in Grenada: a qualitative study.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2023Article
- Communicating the move to individualized donor selection policy: Framing messages focused on recipients and safety.Transfusion · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAmericans do not vaccinate nearly enough against Influenza (flu) infection, despite severe health and economic burden of influenza. Younger people are disproportionately responsible for transmission, but do not suffer severely from the flu. Thus, to achieve herd immunity, prosocial motivation needs to be a partial driver of vaccination decisions. Past research has not established the causal role of prosociality in flu vaccination, and the current research evaluates such causal relationship by experimentally eliciting prosociality through messages about flu victims.
methodsIn an experimental study, we described potential flu victims who would suffer from the decision of others to not vaccinate to 3952 Internet participants across eight countries. We measured sympathy, general prosociality, and vaccination intentions. The study included two identifiable victim conditions (one with an elderly victim and another with a young victim), an unidentified victim condition, and a no message condition.
resultsWe found that any of the three messages increased flu vaccination intentions. Moreover, this effect was mediated by enhanced prosocial motives, and was stronger among people who were historical non-vaccinators. In addition, younger victim elicited greater sympathy, and describing identifiable victims increased general sympathy and prosocial motives.
conclusionsThese findings provide direct experimental evidence on the causal role of prosocial motives in flu vaccination, by showing that people can be prompted to vaccinate for the sake of benefiting others.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.