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Coping with germs and people: Investigating the link between pathogen threat and human social cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

Carlos David Navarrete
Carlos David Navarrete
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. [email protected]
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Abstract

Group assortative biases are stronger in regions where pathogen stress has been historically prevalent. Pushing the logic of this approach, extensions should include investigations of how cultural norms related to prosociality and relational striving may also covary with regional pathogen stress. Likewise, the pan-specific observation that diseased animals show decreased motor activity to facilitate recovery suggests that norms relevant to sickness behaviors may also vary as a function of regional parasite stress.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 89 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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