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National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 44(113), p. 12408-12413, 2016

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1607398113

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Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political ideology across 30 nations

Journal article published in 2016 by Joshua M. Tybur, Yoel Inbar, Lene Aaroe, Pat Barclay, Fiona Kate Barlow ORCID, Mícheál de Barra, D. Vaughn Becker, F. K. Barlowe, Leah Borovoi, D. V. Beckerh, Incheol Choi, Jong An Choi, Nathan S. Consedine, Alan Conway, J. A. Choik and other authors.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by cultural evolution to have pathogenneutralizing properties. The second, which is an intergroup account, holds that these same relationships are based on motivations to avoid contact with outgroups, who might pose greater infectious disease threats than ingroup members. Results from a study surveying 11,501 participants across 30 nations are more consistent with the intragroup account than with the intergroup account. National parasite stress relates to traditionalism (an aspect of conservatism especially related to adherence to group norms) but not to social dominance orientation (SDO; an aspect of conservatism especially related to endorsements of intergroup barriers and negativity toward ethnic and racial outgroups). Further, individual differences in pathogen-avoidance motives (i.e., disgust sensitivity) relate more strongly to traditionalism than to SDO within the 30 nations.