Inclusion bodies (brown) of Chlamydia Trachomatis in McCoy cells. Credit: Public domain
Psychologists believe that in addition to our physical immune system, we also have a behavioral code of conduct. This code helps us to stay healthy, and includes avoidance of unknownand thus potentially infected people.
This "parasite stress" behavior can increase when infection risk is high. It could manifest as attitudes or voting patterns that promote conformity and reject "foreign outsidegroups", a core characteristic of authoritarian politics.
A new study that examines the links between ideology and pathogen prevalence has revealed a strong correlation between infection rates, authoritarianism in political leadership, lawmaking, and public attitudes.
Although the data used in the study was done before COVID-19, University of Cambridge psychologists believe that a greater desire for conformity and obedience by the public as a result of this pandemic could lead to liberal politics losing ground at the polls. These findings were published in the Journal of Social and Political Psychology.
Researchers used data on infectious diseases from the United States in 1990s and 2000s, as well as responses to a psychological survey that was completed by more than 206,000 Americans between 2017 and 2018. They found that the more infectious US cities and states went on to have more authoritarian-leaning citizens.
These findings were replicated internationally using data collected from more than 51,000 individuals in 47 countries. The results were compared with national-level disease rates.
The rates of measles and HIV in the most authoritarian US state were four times higher that those in the least authoritarian. It was three times higher for the most authoritarian countries.
After scientists had accounted for other socioeconomic factors, such as religious beliefs and inequalities of wealth and education, this result was possible. The researchers also discovered that Donald Trump won more votes in 2016 due to higher rates of infection in US regions.
In both the US and countries, there was a correlation between higher rates of infectious diseases and more "vertical," laws that adversely affect certain groups (e.g., abortion control or severe penalties for certain crimes). However, this was not true for "horizontal" laws which affect all equally.
"We find a consistent correlation between the prevalence of infectious diseases, a psychological preference to conformity and hierarchical powers structurespillars of autoritarian politics," stated Dr. Leor Zmigrod (a leading researcher in the psychology of ideologies at the University of Cambridge).
"Higher rates for infectious diseases predicted political attitudes, and results such as authoritarian legal structures and conservative voting. This relationship is evident across multiple historical and geographical levels of analysis.
"We discovered that pathogen rates over 20 years ago still impacted political attitudes even in 2016. According to Zmigrod from Cambridge's Department of Psychology, COVID-19 could increase the appeal of authoritarian politics.
Researchers also examined whether authoritarianism was applicable to zoonotic diseases that are only transmitted from animals. However, the study found that it was only relevant to human-tohuman disease transmission. This suggests that this may be part of a behavioral immune system.
TIME Magazine launched a personality survey in 2017 that was conducted by Cambridge psychologists. Part one was based upon Harry Potter books, but participants could opt in for a second part that would be used for scientific research. This included a textbook measure on authoritarianism.
Participants were given pairs of personality traits to choose from and were asked which one was the most important. Independent or respectful, obedient, or self-reliant? This section was completed by more than a quarter million people. They also provided their zipcodes.
Scientists used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 2007 to determine disease rates in US states. These data included the rates of viral hepatitis and herpes, HIV/AIDS, chicken pox, measles, and HIV.
The rates of chlamydia in the US was calculated by the Cambridge team between 2002 and 2010. An index of nine diseases, ranging from malaria to tuberculosis, was created for each country.
Zmigrod stated that these findings were a warning sign of the profound consequences of disease-avoiding behavior for politics. COVID-19 could influence people's tendency to conformity and obedience. This could lead to authoritarian political preferences and voting patterns as well as laws.
"Health and politics might be more intertwined that we once thought."
More information: Leor Zimrod et. al., The psychological and social-political effects of infectious diseases: Authoritarianism and governance and nonzoonotic infection transmission (human-to human), Journal of Social and Political Psychology (2021). Leor Zmigrod and colleagues, Psychological and socio-political effects of infectious diseases: Authoritarianism and governance as well as nonzoonotic (human to human) infection transmission. (2021). DOI: 10.5964/jspp.7297
