Inoculation theory

ABSTRACT

Inoculation theory is a theory of resistance to influence that builds on analogous relationships with medical vaccination. In short: Exposure to weakened forms of challenges motivates resistance to stronger challenges encountered later. Throughout its 60 + year lifespan, scholars have applied inoculation theory as a messaging strategy across issues and contexts, including politics, health, and commerce. Additionally, inoculation theory scholarship has clarified how inoculation messaging confers resistance, moving beyond the traditional components (threat and refutational preemption) to consider other factors, including emotions. This article reviews key findings in inoculation theory research and then proposes particularly promising areas for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Resistance to influence
• political communicatione
• health communication
• public relations
• marketing
• crisis communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 William J. McGuire, “Resistance to Persuasion Conferred by Active and Passive Prior Refutation of the Same and Alternative Counterarguments,” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 63, no. 2 (1961): 326–32.

2 Aristotle. On Rhetoric. Trans. George A. Kennedy. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1991; Josh Compton, “Comparison, Contrast, and Synthesis of Aristotelian Rationality and Inoculation,” Journal of the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri 35 (2005): 1–23.

3 Wayne Wei-Kuo Lin, “Applying Inoculation Theory in International Political Campaigns: Analysing Public Opinion on Campaign Issues toward Taiwan–PRC Relations,” Communication Research and Practice 8, no. 3 (2022): 214–28; Josh Compton and Bobi Ivanov, “Vaccinating Voters: Surveying Political Campaign Inoculation Scholarship,” Annals of the International Communication Association 37, no. 1 (2013): 251–83. Lin’s work is an example of this type of research, and Compton and Ivanov provide a review of inoculation theory and politics research.

4 Adam S. Richards et al., “Reducing Psychological Reactance to Health Promotion Messages: Comparing Preemptive and Postscript Mitigation Strategies,” Health Communication 37, no. 3 (2022): 366–74; Josh Compton, Ben Jackson, and James A. Dimmock, “Persuading Others to Avoid Persuasion: Inoculation Theory and Resistant Health Attitudes,” Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016): 122. Richards et al.’s work is an example of this type of research, and Compton et al. provide a review of inoculation theory and health research.

5 Pratiti Diddi and Lewen Wei, “Crisis Management on Social Media: Effect of Pre-crisis Inoculation Strategy and Midst-crisis Organizational Interactivity,” Public Relations Review 48, no. 5 (2022): 102206; Compton, Josh, Shelley Wigley, and Sergei A. Samoilenko, “Inoculation Theory and Public Relations,” Public Relations Review 47, no. 5 (2021): 102116. Diddi and Wei’s work is an example of this type of research, and Compton, Wigley, and Samoilenko provide a review of inoculation theory and public relations research.

6 Adam S. Richards and John A. Banas, “Inoculating Against Reactance to Persuasive Health Messages,” Health Communication 30, no. 5 (2015): 451–60, for example.

7 Michelle A. Amazeen, Arunima Krishna, and Rob Eschmann, “Cutting the Bunk: Comparing the Solo and Aggregate Effects of Prebunking and Debunking COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation,” Science Communication 44, no. 4 (2022): 387–417, for example.

8 Catherine Y. Kingsley Westerman, Katherine A. Margolis, and Kathleen M. Kowalski-Trakofle, “Training for Safety in Emergencies: Inoculating for Underground Coal Mine Emergencies,” Professional Safety 56, no. 11 (2011): 42–6.

9 Jeanetta D. Sims, “Using Inoculation to Protect Value-in-Diversity Attitudes: An Unsuccessful Test and a Nuanced Antidote,” Journal of Business Diversity 16, no. 1 (2016): 23–37.

10 Bobi Ivanov, Kimberly A. Parker, and Lindsay Dillingham, “Inoculation Theory as a Strategic Tool.” In The Handbook of Applied Communication Research, ed. H. Dan O’Hair and Mary John O’Hair, 11–28. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2020, for a review.

11 William J. McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion: Some Contemporary Approaches,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 1 (1964): 191–229.

12 John A. Banas and Adam S. Richards, “Apprehension or Motivation to Defend Attitudes? Exploring the Underlying Threat Mechanism in Inoculation-induced Resistance to Persuasion,” Communication Monographs 84, no. 2 (2017): 164–78, for example.

13 Melisa Basol, Jon Roozenbeek, and Sander Van der Linden, “Good News about Bad News: Gamified Inoculation Boosts Confidence and Cognitive Immunity against Fake News,” Journal of Cognition 3, no. 1 (2020), for example.

14 Madison Green, Connar Jo McShane, and Anne Swinbourne, “Active versus Passive: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Inoculation Techniques in Relation to Misinformation about Climate Change,” Australian Journal of Psychology 74, no. 1 (2022), for example.

15 John A. Banas and Stephen A. Rains, “A Meta-analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory,” Communication Monographs 77, no. 3 (2010): 281–311.

16 Chang Lu et al., “Psychological Inoculation for Credibility Assessment, Sharing Intention, and Discernment of Misinformation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Medical Internet Research 25 (2023): e49255.

17 Alice H. Eagly and Shelly Chaiken, The Psychology of Attitudes (New York City, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993), 561.

18 Joshua A. Compton and Michael Pfau, “Inoculation Theory of Resistance to Influence at Maturity: Recent Progress in Theory Development and Application and Suggestions for Future Research,” Annals of the International Communication Association 29, no. 1 (2005): 97–146.

19 https://scholar.google.com/

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid.

22 Josh Compton, “Inoculation Theory.” In The Sage Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice 2, ed. James Price Dillard and Lijiang Shen (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013), 220–37; McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

23 Compton, “Inoculation Theory”; McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

24 Bobi Ivanov, “Designing Inoculation Messages for Health Communication Campaigns.” In Health Communication Message Design: Theory and Practice, ed. Hyunyi Cho (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2011), 73–93.

25 Banas and Rains, “A Meta-analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory.”

26 Josh Compton, “Threat and/in Inoculation Theory,” International Journal of Communication 15 (2021): 1–13.

27 Joshua Compton, “Threat Explication: What We Know and Don’t Yet Know about a Key Component of Inoculation Theory,” Journal of the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri 39 (2009): 1–18; Compton, “Threat and/in Inoculation Theory”; McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

28 John A. Banas and Adam S. Richards,” Apprehension or Motivation to Defend Attitudes? Exploring the Underlying Threat Mechanism in Inoculation-induced Resistance to Persuasion,” Communication Monographs 84, no. 2 (2017): 164–78.

29 Josh Compton and Bobi Ivanov, “Untangling Threat During Inoculation-conferred Resistance to Influence,” Communication Reports 25, no. 1 (2012): 1–13.

30 Compton, “Inoculation Theory.”

31 Jon Roozenbeek and Sander van der Linden, “Fake News Game Confers Psychological Resistance against Online Misinformation,” Palgrave Communications 5, no. 1 (2019): 1–10, for example.

32 John Cook, Stephan Lewandowsky, and Ullrich K. H. Ecker, “Neutralizing Misinformation through Inoculation: Exposing Misleading Argumentation Techniques Reduces their Influence,” PloS One 12, no. 5 (2017): e0175799, for example.

33 McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion”; Banas and Rains, “A Meta-analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory.”

34 Michael Pfau and Henry C. Kenski, Attack Politics: Strategy and Defense (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1990).

35 Michael Pfau et al., “The Conundrum of the Timing of Counterarguing Effects in Resistance: Strategies to Boost the Persistence of Counterarguing Output,” Communication Quarterly 54, no. 2 (2006): 143–56, for example.

36 Josh Compton and Michael Pfau, “Spreading Inoculation: Inoculation, Resistance to Influence, and Word-of-Mouth Communication,” Communication Theory 19, no. 1 (2009): 9–28.

37 Ibid.

38 Lindsay L. Dillingham and Bobi Ivanov. “Using Postinoculation Talk to Strengthen Generated Resistance,” Communication Research Reports 33, no. 4 (2016): 295–302; Bobi Ivanov et al., “Effects of Postinoculation Talk on Resistance to Influence,” Journal of Communication 62, no. 4 (2012): 701–18; Bobi Ivanov, Tim Sellnow, Morgan Getchell, and William Burns. “The Potential for Inoculation Messages and Postinoculation Talk to Minimize the Social Impact of Politically Motivated Acts of Violence,” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 26, no. 4 (2018): 414–24.

39 Ivanov et al., “Effects of Postinoculation Talk.”

40 Ibid.

41 Bobi Ivanov et al., “The General Content of Postinoculation Talk: Recalled Issue-specific Conversations following Inoculation Treatments,” Western Journal of Communication 79, no. 2 (2015): 218–38.

42 Ivanov et al., “Effects of Postinoculation Talk.”

43 Compton and Pfau, “Spreading Inoculation.”

44 McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

45 William McGuire, “The Effectiveness of Supportive and Refutational Defenses in Immunizing and Restoring Beliefs against Persuasion,” Sociometry 24, no. 2 (1961): 184–97.

46 Marieke L. Fransen et al., “Sixty Years Later: A Replication Study of McGuire’s First Inoculation Experiment,” Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications 36, no. 1 (2024): 69–78.

47 Michael Pfau and Michael Burgoon, “Inoculation in Political Campaign Communication,” Human Communication Research 15, no. 1 (1988): 91–111.

48 Compton and Ivanov, “Vaccinating Voters.”

49 Ibid.

50 Pfau and Kenski, Attack Politics, 99.

51 Ibid, for example.

52 Chasu An and Michael Pfau, “The Efficacy of Inoculation in Televised Political Debates,” Journal of Communication 54, no. 3 (2004): 421–36, for example.

53 Michael Pfau et al., “The Effects of Party- and PAC-sponsored Issue Advertising and the Potential of Inoculation to Combat its Impact on the Democratic Process,” American Behavioral Scientist 44, no. 12 (2001): 2379–97, for example.

54 An and Pfau, “Televised Political Debates,” for example.

55 Joshua A. Compton, Late Night Political Comedy, Candidate Image, and Inoculation: A Unique Test of Inoculation Theory (The University of Oklahoma, 2004), for example.

56 Pfau and Kenski, Attack Politics, for example.

57 Michael Pfau et al., “Efficacy of Inoculation Strategies in Promoting Resistance to Political Attack Messages: Application to Direct Mail,” Communications Monographs 57, no. 1 (1990): 25–43, for example.

58 Pfau and Kenski, Attack Politics, for example.

59 Ibid, for example.

60 Lin, “International Political Campaigns,” for example.

61 Emily K. Vraga, Sojung Claire Kim, and John Cook, “Testing Logic-based and Humor-based Corrections for Science, Health, and Political Misinformation on Social Media,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 63, no. 3 (2019): 393–414, for example.

62 Lane M. Banks and Laura A. Brannon, “Does Considering the Consequences of Selective Exposure Help Reduce Selective Exposure Behaviors?,” Psychological Reports (2023): 00332941231189214, for example.

63 Kimberly A. Parker et al., “Inoculation Booster Messages: Frequency, Content, and Timing,” The Journal of Communication and Media Studies 7, no. 1 (2022): 1, for example.

64 Bobi Ivanov et al., “Enhancing Inoculation: Examining the Relationships among Attack Certainty, Threat and Resistance,” International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science 1, no. 2 (2013): 13–23, for example.

65 Vraga, Kim, and Cook, “Testing Logic-based and Humor-based Corrections.”

66 Josh Compton, “Prophylactic Versus Therapeutic Inoculation Treatments for Resistance to Influence,” Communication Theory 30, no. 3 (2020): 330–43.

67 Banks and Brannon, “Considering the Consequences of Selective Exposure.”

68 Josh Compton, Sander van der Linden, John Cook, and Melisa Basol, “Inoculation Theory in the Post-truth Era: Extant Findings and New Frontiers for Contested Science, Misinformation, and Conspiracy Theories,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 15, no. 6 (2021): e12602.

69 John A. Banas and Gregory Miller, “Inducing Resistance to Conspiracy Theory Propaganda: Testing Inoculation and Metainoculation Strategies,” Human Communication Research 39, no. 2 (2013): 184–207.

70 John A. Banas et al., “Inoculating against Anti-Vaccination Conspiracies,” Health Communication (2023): 1–9.

71 Alicia M. Mason et al., “Analyzing the Prophylactic and Therapeutic Role of Inoculation to Facilitate Resistance to Conspiracy Theory Beliefs,” Communication Reports (2023): 1–15.

72 Compton et al., “Inoculation Theory in the Post-truth Era”.

73 Roozenbeek and van der Linden, “Fake News Game.”

74 Jon Roozenbeek and Sander van der Linden, “Breaking Harmony Square: A Game that ‘Inoculates’ against Political Misinformation,” The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review (2020).

75 Compton, “Late Night Political Comedy”; Josh Compton, “Inoculation Against/With Political Humor,” Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research (2018): 95–113; Joon Soo Lim and Eyun-Jung Ki, “Resistance to Ethically Suspicious Parody Video on YouTube: A Test of Inoculation Theory,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 84, no. 4 (2007): 713–28.

76 Benjamin R. Warner, Hayley Jeanne Hawthorne, and Joshua Hawthorne, “A Dual-processing Approach to the Effects of Viewing Political Comedy,” Humor 28, no. 4 (2015): 541–58.

77 Compton and Ivanov, “Vaccinating Voters,” 258.

78 McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

79 McGuire, “Active and Passive Prior Refutation”

80 William J. McGuire and Demetrios Papageorgis, “Effectiveness of Forewarning in Developing Resistance to Persuasion,” Public Opinion Quarterly 26, no. 1 (1962): 24–34.

81 William J. McGuire and Demetrios Papageorgis, “The Relative Efficacy of Various Types of Prior Belief-defense in Producing Immunity against Persuasion,” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 62, no. 2 (1961): 327–37.

82 George J. Szybillo and Richard Heslin “Resistance to Persuasion: Inoculation Theory in a Marketing Context,” Journal of Marketing Research 10, no. 4 (1973): 396–403; Sarah A. Geegan et al., “The Effects of Inoculation and Narrative Messages on Texting and Driving among College Students,” Journal of Social Marketing ahead-of-print (2023), for example.

83 Michael Pfau, Steve Van Bockern, and Jong Geun Kang, “Use of Inoculation to Promote Resistance to Smoking Initiation among Adolescents,” Communications Monographs 59, no. 3 (1992): 213–30, for example.

84 Steven Rosenberg, “Inoculation Effect in Prevention of Increased Verbal Aggression in Schools,” Psychological Reports 95, no. 3_suppl (2004): 1219–26, for example.

85 Kimberly A. Parker, Bobi Ivanov, and Josh Compton, “Inoculation’s Efficacy with Young Adults’ Risky Behaviors: Can Inoculation Confer Cross-protection over Related but Untreated Issues?,” Health Communication 27, no. 3 (2012): 223–33, for example.

86 Erlinde Cornelis, Veroline Cauberghe, and Patrick De Pelsmacker, “Two-sided Messages for Health Risk Prevention: The Role of Argument Type, Refutation, and Issue Ambivalence,” Substance Use & Misuse 48, no. 9 (2013): 719–30, for example.

87 Sarah E. Clear et al., “How Do Inoculation Messages Work? A Two-study Mixed-method Investigation into Inoculation Mechanisms,” Asian Journal of Communication 31, no. 2 (2021): 83–104, for example.

88 Sander van der Linden, Jon Roozenbeek, and Josh Compton, “Inoculating against Fake News about COVID-19,” Frontiers in Psychology (2020): 2928, for example.

89 Irina A. Iles et al., “Investigating the Potential of Inoculation Messages and Self-Affirmation in Reducing the Effects of Health Misinformation,” Science Communication 43, no. 6 (2021): 768–804, for example.

90 Jeff Niederdeppe, Kathryn Heley, and Colleen L. Barry, “Inoculation and Narrative Strategies in Competitive Framing of Three Health Policy Issues,” Journal of Communication 65, no. 5 (2015): 838–62, for example.

91 Compton, Jackson, and Dimmock, “Persuading Others to Avoid Persuasion”; Ivanov, “Designing Inoculation Messages,” Compton, Jackson, and Dimmock review inoculation theory and health studies, and Ivanov offers a review and messaging guidance.

92 Leah Thayer and APS Staff Writer, “Truth, Lies, and the Consequences of Science Denial,” APS Observer 36 (2023).

93 Josh Compton and Elizabeth A. Craig, “Family Communication Patterns, Inoculation Theory, and Adolescent Substance-abuse Prevention: Harnessing Post-inoculation Talk and Family Communication Environments to Spread Positive Influence,” Journal of Family Theory & Review 11, no. 2 (2019): 277–88.

94 Kimberly A. Parker, Allison Thieneman, and Bobi Ivanov, “If We Don’t Use Today: Inoculation-Centered Intervention Strategy for Relapse Prevention,” The International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society 10, no. 2 (2019): 53.

95 Ben Jackson et al., “Re-thinking Anxiety: Using Inoculation Messages to Reduce and Reinterpret Public Speaking Fears,” PloS One 12, no. 1 (2017): e0169972.

96 Vraga, Kim, and Cook, “Testing Logic-based and Humor-based Corrections.”

97 EunHae Park, Seoyeon Kim, and Glen T. Cameron, “Immunize the HPV Vaccine Rumors: Effects of Inoculation Messages and Tone of Voice on Parental Intention to Vaccinate Their Children,” Journal of Community Health 47, no. 5 (2022): 790–9.

98 Amazeen et al., “Cutting the Bunk.”

99 Banas et al., “Inoculating against Anti-Vaccination Conspiracies”; Melisa Basol et al., “Towards Psychological Herd Immunity: Cross-cultural Evidence for Two Prebunking Interventions against COVID-19 Misinformation,” Big Data & Society 8, no. 1 (2021): 20539517211013868; Nancy H. Brinson, “Resistance to Persuasion: Examining the Influence of Political Ideology on COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Hesitancy,” Frontiers in Communication 6 (2022); Li Crystal Jiang et al., “Inoculation Works and Health Advocacy Backfires: Building Resistance to COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation in a Low Political Trust Context,” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 976091; Meghan Bridgid Moran et al., “What Makes Anti-vaccine Websites Persuasive? A Content Analysis of Techniques used by Anti-vaccine Websites to Engender Anti-vaccine Sentiment,” Journal of Communication in Healthcare 9, no. 3 (2016): 151–63; Rachael Piltch-Loeb et al., “Testing the Efficacy of Attitudinal Inoculation Videos to Enhance COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance: Quasi-Experimental Intervention Trial,” JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 8, no. 6 (2022): e34615–e34615; A. G. Ramirez et al., “Pilot Study of Peer Modeling with Psychological Inoculation to Promote Coronavirus Vaccination,” Health Education Research 37, no. 1 (2022): 1–6; Maryline Vivion et al., “Prebunking Messaging to Inoculate against COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: An Effective Strategy for Public Health,” Journal of Communication in Healthcare 15, no. 3 (2022): 232–42, for example.

100 Compton, Jackson, and Dimmock, “Persuading Others to Avoid Persuasion,” 1.

101 Michael Pfau, “The Potential of Inoculation in Promoting Resistance to the Effectiveness of Comparative Advertising Messages,” Communication Quarterly 40, no. 1 (1992): 26–44, for example.

102 Michael Burgoon, Michael Pfau, and Thomas S. Birk, “An Inoculation Theory Explanation for the Effects of Corporate Issue/Advocacy Advertising Campaigns,” Communication Research 22, no. 4 (1995): 485–505; Shelley Wigley and Michael Pfau, “Arguing with Emotion: A Closer Look at Affect and the Inoculation Process,” Communication Research Reports 27, no. 3 (2010): 217–29, for example.

103 Richard W. Easley, William O. Bearden, and Jesse E. Teel, “Testing Predictions Derived from Inoculation Theory and the Effectiveness of Self-disclosure Communications Strategies,” Journal of Business Research 34, no. 2 (1995): 93–105, for example.

104 Sven Mikolon, Benjamin Quaiser, and Jan Wieseke, “Don’t Try Harder: Using Customer Inoculation to Build Resistance against Service Failures,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 43 (2015): 512–27, for example.

105 Sabine A. Einwiller and Gita V. Johar, “Countering Accusations with Inoculation: The Moderating Role of Consumer-company Identification,” Public Relations Review 39, no. 3 (2013): 198–206.

106 Lindsay L. Dillingham and Bobi Ivanov, “Inoculation Messages as a Preemptive Financial Crisis Communication Strategy with Inexperienced Investors,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 45, no. 3 (2017): 274–93; Lindsay L. Dillingham and Bobi Ivanov, “Boosting Inoculation’s Message Potency: Loss Framing,” Communication Research Reports 32, no. 2 (2015): 113–21, for example.

107 Michel M. Haigh and Shelley Wigley, “Examining the Impact of Negative, User-generated Content on Stakeholders,” Corporate Communications: An International Journal 20, no. 1 (2015): 63–75, for example.

108 Courtney D. Boman and Erika J. Schneider, “Finding an Antidote: Testing the Use of Proactive Crisis Strategies to Protect Organizations from Astroturf Attacks,” Public Relations Review 47, no. 1 (2021): 102004, for example.

109 Bobi Ivanov, Kimberly A. Parker, and Michael Pfau, “The Potential of Inoculation in Promoting Resistance to the Effectiveness of Multiple Competitive Attacks on the Country of Origin Concept,” Marketing Theory and Applications (2007): 303–4.

110 Bobi Ivanov et al., “Sustainable Attitudes: Protecting Tourism with Inoculation Messages,” Annals of Tourism Research 73 (2018): 26–34.

111 Joshua Compton and Michael Pfau, “Use of Inoculation to Foster Resistance to Credit Card Marketing Targeting College Students,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 32, no. 4 (2004): 343–64.

112 Michelle A. Amazeen, “Resisting Covert Persuasion in Digital News: Comparing Inoculation and Reactance in the Processing of Native Advertising Disclosures and in Article Engagement Intentions,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 98, no. 4 (2021): 1129–56.

113 Banas and Miller, “Inducing Resistance to Conspiracy Theory Propaganda.”

114 Josh Compton and Bobi Ivanov, “Inoculation Messaging.” In Persuasion and Communication in Sport, Exercise, and Physical Activity, ed. Ben Jackson, James Dimmock, and Josh Compton (Abingdon, UK: Routledge Publishing, 2017), 73–90.

115 Josh Compton, “Inoculation Theory and Metaliterate Learning.” In Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World, ed. Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson (Chicago, IL: ALA Publishing, 2019), 63–79, for example.

116 Josh Compton, “A Vaccine for Boredom?.” In Recruitment, Retention, and Engagement of a Millennial Workforce, ed. Stephanie A. Smith (Washington, DC: Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), 163–76, for example.

117 Josh Compton, “‘Inoculate Yourself with the Word of God’: Persuasion Inoculation, Medical Inoculation, and Religious Rhetoric,” Journal of Media and Religion 18, no. 4 (2019a): 115–21, for example.

118 John Cook et al., “The Cranky Uncle Game – Combining Humor and Gamification to Build Student Resilience against Climate Misinformation,” Environmental Education Research 29, no. 4 (2023): 607–23; Cook, Lewandowsky, and Ecker, “Neutralizing Misinformation,” for example.

119 Robin L. Nabi, “‘Feeling’ Resistance: Exploring the Role of Emotionally Evocative Visuals in Inducing Inoculation,” Media Psychology 5, no. 2 (2003): 199–223, for example.

120 Michelle LM Wood, “Rethinking the Inoculation Analogy: Effects on Subjects with Differing Preexisting Attitudes,” Human Communication Research 33, no. 3 (2007): 357–78.

121 Sims, “Value-in-Diversity Attitudes.”

122 Pfau and Burgoon, “Inoculation in Political Campaign Communication,” for example.

123 Michael Pfau et al., “Enriching the Inoculation Construct: The Role of Critical Components in the Process of Resistance,” Human Communication Research 24, no. 2 (1997): 187–215, for example.

124 Banas and Richards, “Apprehension or Motivation,” for example.

125 Compton and Pfau, “Spreading Inoculation,” for example.

126 Compton, “Prophylactic versus Therapeutic Inoculation Treatments for Resistance to Influence.”

127 Compton, “Inoculation Theory”; McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion”

128 Keith J. Holyoak and Paul Thagard. Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996).

129 McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion,” Compton, “Prophylactic versus Therapeutic Inoculation,” Compton and Pfau, “Inoculation Theory at Maturity”

130 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Adjuvants and Vaccines,” CDC.gov. September 27, 2022.

131 Green et al., “Active versus Passive,” for example.

132 Compton and Pfau, “Use of Inoculation to Foster Resistance to Credit Card Marketing Targeting College Students”

133 Pfau et al., “Enriching the Inoculation Construct,” for example.

134 Wood, “Rethinking the Inoculation Analogy,” for example.

135 Compton, “Prophylactic versus Therapeutic”

136 Yaomei Tian et al., “Development of Therapeutic Vaccines for the Treatment of Diseases,” Molecular Biomedicine 3, no. 1 (2022): 40.

137 Mason et al., “Analyzing the Prophylactic and Therapeutic,” for example.

138 Bobi Ivanov et al., “The Role of Threat and Counterarguing in Therapeutic Inoculation,” Southern Communication Journal 87, no. 1 (2022): 15–27.

139 Compton, “Inoculation Theory”; McGuire, “Inducing Resistance to Persuasion.”

140 Compton and Pfau, “Credit Card Marketing,” for example.

141 Compton and Pfau, “Spreading Inoculation.”

142 Ibid.

143 Ivanov et al., “Effects of Postinoculation Talk.”

144 Ibid.

145 Ivanov et al., “The General Content of Postinoculation Talk”.

146 Compton and Pfau, “Spreading Inoculation.”

147 Stephan Lewandowsky and Sander Van Der Linden, “Countering Misinformation and Fake News through Inoculation and Prebunking,” European Review of Social Psychology 32, no. 2 (2021): 348–84, for example.

148 Compton, “Inoculation Theory,” Compton and Pfau, “Inoculation Theory at Maturity”

149 Josh Compton, Bobi Ivanov, and Erin Hester, “Inoculation Theory and Affect,” International Journal of Communication 16 (2022a): 14.

150 Michael Pfau et al., “Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation,” Communication Monographs 76, no. 1 (2009): 73–98, for example.

151 Claude H. Miller et al., “Boosting the Potency of Resistance: Combining the Motivational Forces of Inoculation and Psychological Reactance,” Human Communication Research 39, no. 1 (2013): 127–55.

152 Pfau et al., “Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect,” for example.

153 Ibid, for example.

154 Jackson et al., “Rethinking Anxiety,” for example.

155 Nabi, “‘Feeling’ Resistance,” for example.

156 Josh Compton and Michael Pfau, “Inoculating against Pro-plagiarism Justifications: Rational and Affective Strategies,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 36, no. 1 (2008): 98–119, for example.

157 Bobi Ivanov et al., “Persistence of Emotion in the Process of Inoculation: Experiencing Post-attack Threat, Fear, Anger, Happiness, Sadness, and Surprise,” Communication Quarterly 68, no. 5 (2020): 560–82, for example.

158 Josh Compton, Bobi Ivanov, and Erin Hester, “New Directions for Inoculation Theory, Media, and Affect Research,” Journal of the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri 39 (2022): 15.