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Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior

The article is a perspective on utilization of microorganisms and chemosignals in studying human economic behavior. Research in biological roots of economic development has already confirmed that parasitic pressure influenced the creation and development of cultural norms and institutions. However,...

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Autor principal: Houdek, Petr
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938411/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29765310
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00077
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author Houdek, Petr
author_facet Houdek, Petr
author_sort Houdek, Petr
collection PubMed
description The article is a perspective on utilization of microorganisms and chemosignals in studying human economic behavior. Research in biological roots of economic development has already confirmed that parasitic pressure influenced the creation and development of cultural norms and institutions. However, other effects of microorganisms on human groups and individual decision-making and behavior are heavily understudied. The perspective discusses how parasitic infections, sexually transmitted organisms and microbiota (i.e., “human holobiont”) could causally influence risk-seeking behavior, impulsivity, social dominance, empathy, political views and gender differences. As a case study, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and its influence on economic preferences, personal characteristics and human appearance are examined. I also briefly review how chemosignals influence decision-making, particularly in the social preferences domain. I mention some predictions that arise from the paradigm of economic holobiont for the economic science. The conclusion summarizes limitations of the discussed findings and the stated speculations.
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spelling pubmed-59384112018-05-14 Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior Houdek, Petr Front Behav Neurosci Neuroscience The article is a perspective on utilization of microorganisms and chemosignals in studying human economic behavior. Research in biological roots of economic development has already confirmed that parasitic pressure influenced the creation and development of cultural norms and institutions. However, other effects of microorganisms on human groups and individual decision-making and behavior are heavily understudied. The perspective discusses how parasitic infections, sexually transmitted organisms and microbiota (i.e., “human holobiont”) could causally influence risk-seeking behavior, impulsivity, social dominance, empathy, political views and gender differences. As a case study, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and its influence on economic preferences, personal characteristics and human appearance are examined. I also briefly review how chemosignals influence decision-making, particularly in the social preferences domain. I mention some predictions that arise from the paradigm of economic holobiont for the economic science. The conclusion summarizes limitations of the discussed findings and the stated speculations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-05-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5938411/ /pubmed/29765310 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00077 Text en Copyright © 2018 Houdek. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Houdek, Petr
Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title_full Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title_fullStr Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title_full_unstemmed Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title_short Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior
title_sort economic holobiont: influence of parasites, microbiota and chemosignals on economic behavior
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938411/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29765310
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00077
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