Disgusted by Value, Unseen by the System: Moral Appeals, Emotions, and Vaccination

Following a decade of profound political and economic instability in Europe, Greece emerged during the COVID-19 crisis as a unique setting for examining moral persuasion in public health. This experimental study explored how different moral framings, utilitarian, deontological and value-based, shaped vaccination-related beliefs and intentions. Utilitarian appeals were most persuasive overall, especially for immediate behavioral intent. Yet, deontological messages proved effective among individuals with low trust in institutions and high fatalistic tendencies, suggesting that appeals to duty resonate when faith in systemic order erodes. In contrast, value-based appeals unexpectedly triggered stronger disgust responses, which in turn weakened vaccine acceptance. Here, disgust acted not just emotionally but symbolically, as a form of moral distancing from messages seen as intrusive or paternalistic. These findings reveal that persuasion is not neutral, it is filtered through affective and ideological schemas. The effectiveness of moral appeals depends on how they align or clash with recipients’ lived moral frameworks.