Genes, environment and… brain parasites affect human thinking and behavior. 25 years of research studies consistently suggest that the protozoa called Toxoplasma Gondii (T. Gondii), found in cat feces, is the likely cause for increased reward and risk taking in people. Many studies have drawn the connection that individuals with T. Gondii have increased levels of testosterone and dopamine in their neural systems. These studies suggest (by correlation) infected people are more likely to be risk-taking entrepreneurs, and have a reduced fear of failure in starting a new business. The studies also indicate that infected people are more likely to have increased aggression, car accidents, mental illness, neuroticism, schiziphrenia, drug abuse, and suicide. Globally, it is estimated that 2 billion people have T. Gondii in their bodies. What does this mean for conflict resolution professionals?
Certainly it helps us have more understanding and compassion for behaviors that may seem hard to explain.
It adds yet another level of complexity to understanding what drives conflict. The interplay between genes, epigenes, and childhood environment is very complex. As if that is not hard enough to sort out, the effects of microbes like T. Gondii adds another incredibly significant factor.
T. Gondii is just one microbe of many thousands in the human body. In a 2012 study on the quantity and prevalence of microbes in a typical human, 10,000 microbes were found (and the study found humans cells are far, far, outnumbered by non-human cells). https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/06/13/154913334/finally-a-map-of-all-the-microbes-on-your-body. Efforts such as the Human Microbiome Project are in the very early stages of studying a far more complex system than genetics. https://hmpdacc.org/.
Research article:
Risky business: linking Toxoplasma gondii infection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries
Stefanie K. Johnson, Markus A. Fitza, Daniel A. Lerner, Dana M. Calhoun, Marissa A. Beldon, Elsa T. Chan, Pieter T. J. Johnson
Proc. R. Soc. B 2018 285 20180822; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0822. Published 25 July 2018
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/285/1883/20180822
Abstract
Disciplines such as business and economics often rely on the assumption of rationality when explaining complex human behaviours. However, growing evidence suggests that behaviour may concurrently be influenced by infectious microorganisms. The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii infects an estimated 2 billion people worldwide and has been linked to behavioural alterations in humans and other vertebrates. Here we integrate primary data from college students and business professionals with national-level information on cultural attitudes towards business to test the hypothesis that T. gondii infection influences individual- as well as societal-scale entrepreneurship activities. Using a saliva-based assay, we found that students (n = 1495) who tested IgG positive for T. gondii exposure were 1.4× more likely to major in business and 1.7× more likely to have an emphasis in ‘management and entrepreneurship’ over other business-related emphases. Among professionals attending entrepreneurship events, T. gondii-positive individuals were 1.8× more likely to have started their own business compared with other attendees (n = 197). Finally, after synthesizing and combining country-level databases on T. gondii infection from the past 25 years with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor of entrepreneurial activity, we found that infection prevalence was a consistent, positive predictor of entrepreneurial activity and intentions at the national scale, regardless of whether previously identified economic covariates were included. Nations with higher infection also had a lower fraction of respondents citing ‘fear of failure’ in inhibiting new business ventures. While correlational, these results highlight the linkage between parasitic infection and complex human behaviours, including those relevant to business, entrepreneurship and economic productivity.