The cultural revolution of witchcraft beliefs

Evolution & Human Behavior Vol/Iss. 45 Elsevier Inc. Published In Pages: ??
By Peacey, Sarah, Wu, Baihui, Grollemund, Rebecca, Mace, Ruth

Hypothesis

Traits associated with the 'witchcraft phenotype' exhibit phylogenetic transmission.

Note

Supported variables for phylogenetic clustering include: witchcraft substance, the evil eye, baboon familiars, snake-human familiars, and child 'witches'. Variables not supported: poison ordeal, cannibalism, mostly unconscious witchcraft, mostly conscious witchcraft, innate witchcraft, acquired witchcraft, divination, covens, familiars, hyena familiars, owl familiars, leopard familiars, aardvark familiars, insect familiars, snake familiars, small human-like familiars, spirit-ghost familiars, mostly animal familiars, mostly supernatural being familiars, death usually caused by witchcraft, inheritance: maternal or both, inheritance: paternal or both, elderly 'witches', male 'witches', female 'witches', both sexes as 'witches'.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
D-statistic, 'Reversible Jump' MCMC analysis, Mantel testPartially Supportedp < 0.05UNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Phylogenetic TransmissionIndependentSociolinguistics
Witchcraft beliefsDependentSorcery