Authors test three explanations as to why bloodletting is such a near-universal therapeutic cultural practice in "the west." Using references from HRAF's database which are then re-coded for colocalization, practitioner, and cultural explanation, they find that bloodletting is practiced therapeutically by many unrelated cultures worldwide; it is heterogeneous in both form and cultural significance across the globe while still fairly ubiquitous in general. Authors posit that the widespread propensity toward bloodletting in human populations is explained by the universality of affecting/affected cognitive mechanisms. After analyzing cultural data in eHRAF, authors incorporated experiments and modeling that further supported this conclusion.

Authors test three explanations as to why bloodletting is such a near-universal therapeutic cultural practice in "the west." Using references from HRAF's database which are then re-coded for colocalization, practitioner, and cultural explanation, they find that bloodletting is practiced therapeutically by many unrelated cultures worldwide; it is heterogeneous in both form and cultural significance across the globe while still fairly ubiquitous in general. Authors posit that the widespread propensity toward bloodletting in human populations is explained by the universality of affecting/affected cognitive mechanisms. After analyzing cultural data in eHRAF, authors incorporated experiments and modeling that further supported this conclusion.

This study investigates responses to childlessness in a cross-cultural sample. Solutions to childlessness appear universal, and magico-religious-ethnomedical solutions seem the most likely to be tried first. Empirical analysis also shows that women are blamed for childlessness more often than men, which the authors suggest could be due to women’s lower status.

The authors of this study integrate recent data with data on ancestral ethnic groups' exposure to the slave trade in order to examine the relationship between this historical exposure and children vaccination status against measles. They find evidence to support their hypothesis that children from mothers whose ancestors belonged to an ethnic group that exported slaves are less likely to be vaccinated against measles, theorizing that this correlation stems from distrust in medical and governmental institutions. Supporting this theory, they also find that groups historically exposed to the slave trade that have higher preference for traditional practices are even less likely to vaccinate their children against measles.

This study investigates responses to childlessness in a cross-cultural sample. Solutions to childlessness appear universal, and magico-religious-ethnomedical solutions seem the most likely to be tried first. Empirical analysis also shows that women are blamed for childlessness more often than men, which the authors suggest could be due to women’s lower status.

In this article, the author argues that matrilocality is a form of social organization that is conducive to expansion in tribal societies with smaller populations. Because this organization increases internal solidarity and success in external warfare, the theory suggests that it is best suited for expansion on cultural frontiers by groups with small populations. The author supports this theory with empirical tests on 33 societies and case studies of Bantu and Austronesian expansion.

This paper explores the relationship between games of chance and various aspects of infant socialization, as well as subsistence economy and social organization. Several significant associations were found between these variables.

In this paper, the authors analyzed data on 20 hunter-gatherer groups in order to understand the factors that influence the diversity and elaborateness of their tool assemblages. They used data collected by a variety of ethnographers to draw inferences about the complexity of implement assemblages and how it is affected by ecological constraints, modes of resource procurement, group movement, and population size. Regression analysis showed that the two strongest predictors of implement complexity were growth season (GS) (as a proxy for risk) and the number of annual residential moves (NMV). With the understanding that NMV and GS are likely not independent, the authors created addition and interaction models to understand how these variables may work in tandem to influence implement diversity and elaborateness. The results show that a shorter growing season (higher risk) and a lower number of moves are correlated with greater implement complexity. This analysis also divided the hunter-gatherers into two subgroups: a subgroup characterized by higher diversity of complex implements and more elaborate individual implements than predicted by the model, and a subgroup characterized by lower diversity and less elaborateness than predicted. These subgroups were found to correspond with the distinction between foragers (groups that move more-or-less as a unit while gathering) and collectors (groups that gather (logistically from a more-or-less fixed settlement), with the higher diversity subgroup being made up mostly of collectors and the lower diversity subgroup being made up mostly of foragers. Finally, the authors suggest that under conditions where population growth leads to increased density, foraging strategies will tend to shift to collector strategies in conjunction with increased elaborateness of implements to exploit resources with greater intensity.

This article explores the following questions: What environmental and cultural factors might explain variation in prejudice across cultures? Do these factors explain the intention to vote for nationalist politicians? The authors perform seven studies, focusing on the link between cultural tightness and the rise of prejudice in cultures. They theorize that cultural tightness is positively correlated with the rise of prejudice against people perceived as disrupting the social order. From this theory, they suggest three hypotheses: 1) cultural variation in tightness is related to cultural variation in prejudice, 2) cultural tightness is related to the support for nationalist politicians, and 3) cultural tightness is a link between ecological threats and prejudice. The results support these hypotheses, offering a cultural evolutionary perspective on prejudice.

This study examines the variability of siestas across cultures and considers how factors including climate, subsistence type, and disease susceptability relate to the presence or absence of siestas. The author finds a significant relationship between siestas and the presence of malaria.