This thesis uses a cross-cultural sample to examine the relationship between anemia and infant feeding practices. Examples from the ethnography are presented. Findings are largely descriptive on practice, but are largely inconclusive with regard to anemia.

Seeking to resolve contradictions between previous studies, these authors conduct empirical analysis on the relationship between population size and cultural evolution. Results indicate that population size influences toolkit richness and complexity, even when proxies for risk of resource failure are introduced in the regression model. Authors speculate that the association is weaker for hunter-gatherers because those societies are more affected by risk of resource failure and have institutions that facilitate cultural evolution despite smaller population size. There also may be a threshold effect in the influence of population size on toolkit structure.

This article draws from previous research by Ember and Ember (1992) that suggests a relationship between socialization for mistrust in others, unpredictable natural disasters, and warfare frequency. Authors hypothesize that the inclusion of a corporate-network strategy variable will improve the predictive power of the Embers' model for warfare. Results support this hypothesis.

This article challenges ideas of cultural progressionism through an analysis of counting systems. Cultural adaptation in both biotic and abiotic environments is examined, and results suggest that culture adapts to both the human-made environment and the physical environment. The author asserts that “interpreting divergent and convergent behaviors as due to differences and similarities of local environments” is superior to a progressionist approach to cultural change (62).

This article examines cooking strategies and cooking containers cross-culturally. Focusing on stone boiling and direct fire cooking, the authors find that geographic location and climate (particularly temperature, rainfall, and evapotranspiration) will be associated with cooking strategy. Container fabric type was also examined, and was found to be associated with cooking strategy, climatic variables, and subsistence type.

This article investigates how ideas of "public" and "private" goods can account for bribery and corruption. The authors hypothesize that societies that have a clear distinction between public and private goods will experience less corruption and societies with a more ambiguous distinction between public and private goods will experience more corruption. Findings mostly support this hypothesis.

This article examines the frequency and emotional arousal of ritual. Cross-cultural tests support the existence of two modes of religiosity: doctrinal, with high frequency and low emotionality of ritual, and imagistic, with low frequency and high emotionality of ritual. Both euphoric and dysphoric arousal are considered. Associations between these two modes of religiosity and other features of culture (such as group size and the use of agriculture) are examined.

This study examines instances of group fission cross-culturally. Results suggest that internal political conflict and resource scarcity are the two most common causes of group fission. Results also suggest that group fission tends to occur along kin lines.

This article examines the different social risk-management strategies (SRMS) used by pastoralists to minimize their exposure to risks that may affect their livelihood. The authors identify a new type of SRMS, noninstitutionalized SRMS, to the two existing types, exchange networks and patron-client relations. A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is used to identify factors which explain the variation in SRMS: livelihood diversification, economic differentiation, political economy, risk exposure, and key economic animal.

Social scientists are equivocal as to the importance of teaching (as contrasted with other forms of learning) in traditional societies. While many cultural anthropologists have downplayed the importance of teaching, cognitive psychologists often argue that teaching is a salient human universal. Here the authors investigate cultural transmission among 23 hunter-gatherer populations to explore the relative importance of teaching among foragers.