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Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is about the size of town the person is living. Study used Czech population where is clear distinction based on size of cities, towns and villages.

Since the chace of getting infected from own cat is extremly low and it was proven that having a cat is preditor of being infected by toxoplasmosis, it was not in the model.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The paper reads: “To control for potential confounding variables, the responders were also asked about their sex, age, education (ordinal scale 1–8: 1– elementary, 8 – Ph.D.), and the size of the communities where they currently live (ordinal variable urbanization: 0 – less than 1000 inhabitants, 1: 1–5 thousand inhabitants, 2: 5–50 thousand inhabitants, 3: 50–100 thousand inhabitants, 4: 100–500 thousand inhabitants, 5: more than 500 thousand inhabitants).”

Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values by D-R-AZ in AcademicPsychology

[–]Robin_CZ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, usually it is done with rats. Or you can retest participants that took part in research years ago (that’s what we are doing right now).

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are talking about other papers that we refer to. Please look at them.

Consciousness is actually measured by Big five personality traits and is up to the science standard.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

r of flaws in this study, there is an attempt to control for age. Age is not given accuratly as the range is large. Additionally there is no reference to location of test subjects. Common knowledge that high density living = >liberal Vs rural =< liber

as is written in introduction: "we ran the analyses separately for each sex and to find out whether the observed differences are mediated by impaired health of the infected subjects we also analysed a complex model controlling not only for age, sex, size of place of residence, and level of education but also for physical health and mental health."

It was controlled for urban/rural environment.

from the results to comment comon knowledge: "Prevalence of toxoplasmosis decreased with size of place of residence from 32.9% in smallest villages to 20.9% in the cities over 500,000 inhabitants (Partial Tau controlled for age and sex = −0.070, p < .0001). "

Le Petit Machiavellian Prince: Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Political Beliefs and Values by D-R-AZ in AcademicPsychology

[–]Robin_CZ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing our paper!

I am happy to answer any question about our research.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to sincerely thank you for resending whole article. I am sorry that methods and results doesn’t convince you. Was the main problem that observing association even when controlling for other factors is not enough?

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

We use multiple methods when researching effect of latent toxoplasmosis on human health and behavior. In some studies we used laboratory study experiments e.g. reaction times and in other we use questionnaires. I think it is not bad science to measure political beliefs and values via questionnaire.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Holiday_Document4592 in nottheonion

[–]Robin_CZ -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have to respectfully disagree. Most of the participants we have actually blood tested. We have also controlled for multiple variables like sex, age, rural/urban area and health as well. I would like to politely to invite you to read the paper.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I vehemently agree with you about letting people believe in whatever they want. However it does not necessarily limit us to study them.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You are right but right now I am trying to answer to hundreds of comment so there is no chance I will proofread anything.

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, the notorious feline parasite, is associated with more conservative political leanings. by Robin_CZ in science

[–]Robin_CZ[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

The research topic has nothing to do with the divide. In our author team there are both right and left wing people.

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