# Inoculation Theory
**Entity class:** Theory of resistance to persuasion
**Aliases:** Attitudinal Inoculation Theory
**Maturity:** Developed
## Definition
**Inoculation theory** proposes that warning people about a persuasive attack and exposing them to a weakened example with refutation can build resistance to later manipulation. Modern “prebunking” often teaches manipulation techniques rather than trying to refute every future claim.
## Relationships
- **developed by:** [[wiki/William McGuire|William McGuire]].
- **modern researchers include:** [[wiki/Sander van der Linden|Sander van der Linden]] and [[wiki/Jon Roozenbeek|Jon Roozenbeek]].
- **CVE use:** [[wiki/Countering Violent Extremism|Countering Violent Extremism]], [[wiki/Prebunking|Prebunking]], and [[wiki/Radicalise|Radicalise]].
## Sources / Provenance
- [[research/A Network-Epidemiological Analysis of Radicalization and Real-Time Counterterrorism Observability|Network-Epidemiological Analysis]]