Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values
Humans infected by Toxoplasma gondii express no specific symptoms but manifest higher incidence of many diseases, disorders and differences in personality and behavior. The aim of this study was to compare the political beliefs and values of Toxoplasma -infected and Toxoplasma -free participants. We...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221112657 |
| _version_ | 1818503177178185728 |
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| author | Robin Kopecky Lenka Příplatová Silvia Boschetti Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Jaroslav Flegr |
| author_facet | Robin Kopecky Lenka Příplatová Silvia Boschetti Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Jaroslav Flegr |
| author_sort | Robin Kopecky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Humans infected by Toxoplasma gondii express no specific symptoms but manifest higher incidence of many diseases, disorders and differences in personality and behavior. The aim of this study was to compare the political beliefs and values of Toxoplasma -infected and Toxoplasma -free participants. We measured beliefs and values of 2315 responders via an online survey (477 Toxoplasma -infected) using the Political Beliefs and Values Inventory (PI34). This study showed Toxoplasma -infected and Toxoplasma -free participants of our cross-sectional study differed in three of four factors of PI34, scoring higher in Tribalism and lower in Cultural liberalism and Anti-Authoritarianism. We found sex differences in political beliefs associated with Toxoplasma infection. Infected women scored higher in tribalism and lower in cultural liberalism, compared with the Toxoplasma -free control group, while infected men scored higher in economic equity. These results fit with sexual differences in behavior and attitude observed after toxoplasmosis infection. Controlling for the effect of worse physical health and mental health had little impact, suggesting that impaired health did not cause these changes. Rather than adaptation to prevalence of parasites, as suggested by parasite-stress theory, the differences might be side-effects of long-term mild inflammatory reaction. However, to get clear picture of the mild inflammation effects, more research focused on different infectious diseases is needed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T21:20:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b202aa394e064204b69f9afd79a38361 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1474-7049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T21:20:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b202aa394e064204b69f9afd79a383612022-12-22T01:33:08ZengSAGE PublishingEvolutionary Psychology1474-70492022-07-012010.1177/14747049221112657Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and ValuesRobin Kopecky0Lenka Příplatová1Silvia Boschetti2Konrad Talmont-Kaminski3Jaroslav Flegr4 Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Philosophy and History of Sciences, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CzechiaHumans infected by Toxoplasma gondii express no specific symptoms but manifest higher incidence of many diseases, disorders and differences in personality and behavior. The aim of this study was to compare the political beliefs and values of Toxoplasma -infected and Toxoplasma -free participants. We measured beliefs and values of 2315 responders via an online survey (477 Toxoplasma -infected) using the Political Beliefs and Values Inventory (PI34). This study showed Toxoplasma -infected and Toxoplasma -free participants of our cross-sectional study differed in three of four factors of PI34, scoring higher in Tribalism and lower in Cultural liberalism and Anti-Authoritarianism. We found sex differences in political beliefs associated with Toxoplasma infection. Infected women scored higher in tribalism and lower in cultural liberalism, compared with the Toxoplasma -free control group, while infected men scored higher in economic equity. These results fit with sexual differences in behavior and attitude observed after toxoplasmosis infection. Controlling for the effect of worse physical health and mental health had little impact, suggesting that impaired health did not cause these changes. Rather than adaptation to prevalence of parasites, as suggested by parasite-stress theory, the differences might be side-effects of long-term mild inflammatory reaction. However, to get clear picture of the mild inflammation effects, more research focused on different infectious diseases is needed.https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221112657 |
| spellingShingle | Robin Kopecky Lenka Příplatová Silvia Boschetti Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Jaroslav Flegr Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values Evolutionary Psychology |
| title | Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values |
| title_full | Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values |
| title_fullStr | Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values |
| title_full_unstemmed | Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values |
| title_short | Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values |
| title_sort | le petit machiavellian prince effects of latent toxoplasmosis on political beliefs and values |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221112657 |
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