Abstract A substantial number of people refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which prompts the question as to why.We focus here on the role of individual worldviews about the nature and generation of knowledge (epistemic beliefs).We propose a model that includes epistemic beliefs, their relationship to the Dark Factor of Personality (D), and their mutual effect on the probability of having been vaccinated against COVID-19.Based on a US nationally representative sample (N = 1268), we show that stronger endorsement of post-truth epistemic beliefs was associated with a lower probability of having been vaccinated against COVID-19.
D was also linked skull bride and groom to a lower probability of having been vaccinated against COVID-19, which can be explained by post-truth epistemic beliefs.Our results indicate that the more individuals deliberately refrain from adhering to the better argument, the less likely they are vaccinated.More generally, post-truth epistemic beliefs pose a challenge for rational communication.