Although there has been unprecedented attention to inoculation theory in recent years, the potential of this research has yet to be reached. Inoculation theory explains how immunity to counter-attitudinal messages is conferred by preemptively exposing people to weakened doses of challenging information. The theory has been applied in a number of contexts (e.g., politics, health) in its 50+ year history. Importantly, one of the newest contexts for inoculation theory is work in the area of contested science, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Recent research has revealed that when a desirable position on a scientific issue (e.g., climate change) exists, conventional preemptive (prophylactic) inoculation can help to protect it from misinformation, and that even when people have undesirable positions, “therapeutic” inoculation messages can have positive effects. We call for further research to explain and predict the efficacy of inoculation theory in this new context to help inform better public understandings of issues such as climate change, genetically modified organisms, vaccine hesitancy, and other contested science beliefs such as conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

中文翻译：

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后真相时代的接种理论：有争议的科学、错误信息和阴谋论的现有发现和新前沿

尽管近年来接种理论受到了前所未有的关注，但该研究的潜力尚未发挥。接种理论解释了如何通过先发制人地将人们暴露于微弱的挑战性信息来赋予对反态度信息的免疫力。该理论在其 50 多年的历史中已应用于许多背景（例如，政治、健康）。重要的是，接种理论的最新背景之一是有争议的科学、错误信息和阴谋论领域的工作。最近的研究表明，当存在科学问题（例如气候变化）的理想立场时，传统的先发制人（预防性）接种可以帮助保护它免受错误信息的影响，即使人们有不良立场，“治疗性”接种信息可以产生积极影响。我们呼吁进一步研究以解释和预测接种理论在这种新背景下的功效，以帮助公众更好地了解气候变化、转基因生物、疫苗犹豫和其他有争议的科学信念（如关于 COVID- 19.