Culture–gene coevolution of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene

By Joan Y. Chiao, Katherine D. Blizinsky. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences, 2009

594 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Culture–gene coevolutionary theory posits that cultural values have evolved, are adaptive and influence the social and physical environments under which genetic selection operates. Here, we examined the association between cultural values of individualism–collectivism and allelic frequency of the serotonin transporter functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) as well as the role this culture–gene association may play in explaining global variability in prevalence of pathogens and affective disorders. We found evidence that collectivistic cultures were significantly more likely to comprise individuals carrying the short (S) allele of the 5-HTTLPR across 29 nations. Results further show that historical pathogen prevalence predicts cultural variability in individualism–collectivism owing to genetic selection of the S allele. Additionally, cultural values and frequency of S allele carriers negatively predict global prevalence of anxiety and mood disorder. Finally, mediation analyses further indicate that increased frequency of S allele carriers predicted decreased anxiety and mood disorder prevalence owing to increased collectivistic cultural values. Taken together, our findings suggest culture–gene coevolution between allelic frequency of 5-HTTLPR and cultural values of individualism–collectivism and support the notion that cultural values buffer genetically susceptible populations from increased prevalence of affective disorders. Implications of the current findings for understanding culture–gene coevolution of human brain and behaviour as well as how this coevolutionary process may contribute to global variation in pathogen prevalence and epidemiology of affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are discussed.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cecb1523e75a5b856e8be13ebd489cb44bb58453

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Social Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Resilience and mental health. (2010, unknown): “…with societies with collective cultural values (i.e., maintenance of social harmony over assertion of individuality) have a resilience effect against affective disorders in nations with high prevalence of individuals carrying the short (s) allele of the 5-HTTLPR (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2010).”
The brain basis of emotion: A meta-analytic review (2012, background): “…evidence suggests that the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) – known to regulate neurotransmission within the amygadala and other regions supporting emotional vigilance (Munafo et al. 2008) – may have co-evolved along with cultural values of individualism–collectivism (Chiao & Blizinsky 2010).”
General Belief in A Just World and Resilience: Evidence from A Collectivistic Culture (2011, background): “…studies indicate that populations in collectivistic cultures consistently report low prevalence of negative affect and related mood disorders (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2009), although they experienced harsh realities including widespread pathogen contamination (Fincher, Thornhill, Murray, &…”
The behavioral immune system and social conservatism: a meta-analysis (2013, background): “…(e.g., collectivism; Murray, Trudeau, & Schaller, 2011; Fincher et al., 2008), and that this relation is partially mediated by genetic variation (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2010).6 Thus, the BIS may regulate social relationships by fostering value systems that protect individuals from outgroup members…”