Matt Motta Profile picture
Asst. Prof. @BUSPH_HLPM | Formerly: @APPCpenn @Yale postdoc | @PoliSciUMN PhD Pre-order my book, Anti-Scientific Americans! https://t.co/INMfOlN5zf
Aug 19, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read
NEW from @decustecu and I at @PLOSONE:

We provide new evidence that A. Wakefield's retracted 1998 study (alleging a link between MMR vax and autism) likely had a causal effect on vaccine hesitancy in the US. #scicomm [THREAD]

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl… ImageImageImage Some background. As @kristenvbrown (rightly!) notes in this piece, many see Andrew Wakefield & colleagues' retracted 1998 Lancet study ("AW98") -- and media attention to it -- as a central force in inspiring modern-day vaccine hesitancy in the US.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Jun 15, 2021 14 tweets 5 min read
NEW at @apr_journal: I provide new evidence that Republicans (and not Democrats, as is sometimes assumed) are more likely to endorse anti-vax. misinfo.

This effect isn't new, and anti-expert attitudes may help explain why. #polisciresearch

journals.sagepub.com/eprint/C5CZCID… First, some background.

Popular press efforts to document the prevalence of anti-vax. opinion often suggest (either tacitly or explicitly) that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to endorse anti-vaccine views.
May 31, 2021 15 tweets 6 min read
NEW at PGI: Anti-vax beliefs are more than just views about sci/med. For many, they're a form of social identity.

@THCallaghan, @klunztrujillo, @ssylvester82 and I study the health policy consequences of "Anti-Vax. Social Identity" (AVSID).

[THREAD]

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… ImageImageImageImage About a third of Americans express doubt about the safety of childhood vaccines. For some, these views may simply be the result of well-studied social, political, and psychological forces that inspire doubt about vax. safety.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Nov 17, 2020 12 tweets 5 min read
NEW at IJPOR - I show that aggregate change in anthropogenic climate change beliefs is less the result of attitude change ("changing minds") and more the result of demographic changes in sample composition ("changing samples.")

[THREAD]

academic.oup.com/ijpor/advance-… Before summarizing the study, HUGE shoutout to the folks at C[C]ES, @pewresearch, and @YaleClimateComm who did the hard work of collecting the panel and cross-sec. data used in this study, and for making it free for all to use.
Mar 15, 2020 8 tweets 5 min read
Given skepticism about seriousness of #COVID19 on the right, Newt's msg could have persuasive power.

Several #scicomm studies find that ppl holding views at odds with sci. are more likely to change their minds when told to do so by like-minded sources.

Some examples [THREAD] This piece from Adam Berinsky finds that politicians who take stances contrary to their partisan interests can convince like-minded partisans to reject misinfo. related to public health.

web.mit.edu/berinsky/www/f…