Le Petit Machiavellian Prince. Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values

0560064 - FLÚ 2023 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Kopecký, Robin - Příplatová, Lenka - Boschetti, Silvia - Talmont-Kaminski, Konrad - Flegr, J.
Le Petit Machiavellian Prince. Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values.
Evolutionary Psychology. Roč. 20, č. 3 (2022), č. článku 14747049221112657. E-ISSN 1474-7049
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA21-31059S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985955
Klíčová slova: Toxoplasma gondií * manipulation hypothesis * political beliefs * stress * infectious diseases * parasite threat * pathogen avoidance
Obor OECD: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Impakt faktor: 1.5, rok: 2022
Způsob publikování: Open access
https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221112657

Humans infected by Toxoplasma gondií 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.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0335726