Nobody in the post’s quoted survey results mentioned needle phobia or gives any indication they have a fear of needles. Is that not evidence that needle phobia isn’t the cause?
Perhaps it’s embarrassing for people to talk about. In my experience, people aren’t always honest about their true motives. In fact, in many cases my starting assumption is that people will actively be dishonest by trying to invent a reason that sounds noble when the true motive is mundane and kind of ugly.
Maybe my point is easier to see if you imagine how the justification “I’m afraid of needles” would fare in a public debate. The answer will be, “Just get over it you big baby. That’s not a reason to risk killing people by spreading the virus.”
The poll was anonymous and was not inviting debate.
my starting assumption is that people will actively be dishonest by trying to invent a reason that sounds noble when the true motive is mundane and kind of ugly
This sounds like a good way to disregard all stated reasons all the time. I can only see it being a valuable heuristic if you first have some other reason to believe the true motive.
The poll was anonymous and was not inviting debate.
Even still, people are prone to self-deception. You may be interested in this book, which argues that self-deception is very normal. In a multitude of areas of life (from education to religion) people often tell themselves and others that they’re doing things because of reason X, when reason Y fits the evidence a lot better.
Ask yourself whether a poll asking why people appreciate modern art would provide a lot of insight into why people view modern art. Or a poll asking people why they donate to charity. At the very least, many of the replies will probably leave out one of their true motives, such as wanting to look benevolent to others in the case of charity.
It’s worse than that. “Self deception” implies that you know what the real answer is and then deceive yourself to believe otherwise. You still have to figure out what the right answer is, and while people are obviously going to be more willing to look for and accept self flattering answers, such motivated cognition isn’t necessary in order to ruin the idea of anonymous polls being fountains of truth.
If you see a lion and feel fear, it’s easy to figure out that you’re probably afraid that it’s going to eat you. If the lion is in a cage at the zoo, then seemingly no explanation works so you say “I guess I just have a[n irrational] fear of lions”.
Similarly, if you feel fear when a doctor pulls out a needle, you have to figure out why that is. “Because I don’t trust the guy with a needle” is a pretty straight forward explanation, and sorta by definition true. You’re not going to get “Because I have a fear of needles” unless the person decides that their fear can’t be justified.
This sounds like a good way to disregard all stated reasons all the time. I can only see it being a valuable heuristic if you first have some other reason to believe the true motive.
I agree, but I presented evidence to the contrary. Wikipedia said that 10% of adults have needle phobia, and added “it is likely that the actual number is larger”. Even if not strictly the main reason why people avoid the vaccine, it seems probable that it plays some role.
If it were merely a matter of distrusting social institutions, we would need an explanation of why people seem to have no problem trusting those same social institutions in other circumstances, including other medicine that they’re prescribed. Almost every single time a new vaccine is introduced on the market, there are a lot of people who oppose it. Therefore this phenomenon seems unlikely to merely be the result of a perception of rushed vaccine trials or something similar.
Nobody in the post’s quoted survey results mentioned needle phobia or gives any indication they have a fear of needles. Is that not evidence that needle phobia isn’t the cause?
Perhaps it’s embarrassing for people to talk about. In my experience, people aren’t always honest about their true motives. In fact, in many cases my starting assumption is that people will actively be dishonest by trying to invent a reason that sounds noble when the true motive is mundane and kind of ugly.
Maybe my point is easier to see if you imagine how the justification “I’m afraid of needles” would fare in a public debate. The answer will be, “Just get over it you big baby. That’s not a reason to risk killing people by spreading the virus.”
The poll was anonymous and was not inviting debate.
This sounds like a good way to disregard all stated reasons all the time. I can only see it being a valuable heuristic if you first have some other reason to believe the true motive.
Even still, people are prone to self-deception. You may be interested in this book, which argues that self-deception is very normal. In a multitude of areas of life (from education to religion) people often tell themselves and others that they’re doing things because of reason X, when reason Y fits the evidence a lot better.
Ask yourself whether a poll asking why people appreciate modern art would provide a lot of insight into why people view modern art. Or a poll asking people why they donate to charity. At the very least, many of the replies will probably leave out one of their true motives, such as wanting to look benevolent to others in the case of charity.
It’s worse than that. “Self deception” implies that you know what the real answer is and then deceive yourself to believe otherwise. You still have to figure out what the right answer is, and while people are obviously going to be more willing to look for and accept self flattering answers, such motivated cognition isn’t necessary in order to ruin the idea of anonymous polls being fountains of truth.
If you see a lion and feel fear, it’s easy to figure out that you’re probably afraid that it’s going to eat you. If the lion is in a cage at the zoo, then seemingly no explanation works so you say “I guess I just have a[n irrational] fear of lions”.
Similarly, if you feel fear when a doctor pulls out a needle, you have to figure out why that is. “Because I don’t trust the guy with a needle” is a pretty straight forward explanation, and sorta by definition true. You’re not going to get “Because I have a fear of needles” unless the person decides that their fear can’t be justified.
I agree, but I presented evidence to the contrary. Wikipedia said that 10% of adults have needle phobia, and added “it is likely that the actual number is larger”. Even if not strictly the main reason why people avoid the vaccine, it seems probable that it plays some role.
If it were merely a matter of distrusting social institutions, we would need an explanation of why people seem to have no problem trusting those same social institutions in other circumstances, including other medicine that they’re prescribed. Almost every single time a new vaccine is introduced on the market, there are a lot of people who oppose it. Therefore this phenomenon seems unlikely to merely be the result of a perception of rushed vaccine trials or something similar.
#21′s response that “If a pill form was available… I would” might be related to needle phobia, although not explicitly stated.
There is anxiety in there. That could stand for needle phobia.