In their discussion, I wasn't convinced that Bret and Jeffrey nailed the full motivation for taking the Covid 19 shot (or any vaccine, for that matter).

I propose a new lens - that an amped up version of the Ben Franklin effect is at play, where someone asks a favour of someone who dislikes/distrusts them. This manipulation results in post (and peri?) hoc dissonance and rationalisation which ultimately leads to a shift (from negative to positive) in regard for the person asking the favour. "I could only be granting this favour to someone I like, so this person must be likeable".

I think this goes some way to explaining the sickening 180 in so many attitudes towards Big Pharma (and those in authority) and the subsequent doubling down by those who'd taken the shot. If so, it might be relevant to all vaccines, and other 'favours' like signing up for military service.

Most research has focussed on fairly tame gestures like lending a book or some money. Is it possible that it is ...

@DarkhorsePod The whole vaccine story reminds me of the lack of fear people have when flying on an airplane. For example, if a 4-year-old child were to fly for the first time, that child might be nervous and excited, maybe a little scared, but ultimately calm and quiet.

If someone from 200 years ago experienced the same thing without context, they might have a heart attack and think they were about to die a horrible death. We take it for granted how normal it is to fly.

The difference isn’t the physic but the social context. The child isn’t afraid because everyone around him is calm. The adults act like everything is normal because they’ve read the statistics and they’ve flown dozens of times before. The child takes solace in their resolve.

Public trust works the same way. People feel calm when they believe a system has a long safety record and when the signals around them are consistent. When something new is introduced under the umbrella of that trusted system (e.g. vaccines), the ...