How do parents around the world teach children to control their anger?
What do you do when a child throws a temper tantrum? Enabling young children to control their emotions – especially anger – is a challenge that all parents face. From deciding the “right” or “wrong”…
Laissez les bon temps rouler: Mardi Gras and Cajun Traditions in eHRAF
Mardi Gras has become synonymous with the culture and lifestyle of New Orleans and southern Louisiana. “Fat Tuesday” or mardi gras in French, is the name given to the feast day that marks the onset…
Romantic or disgusting? Passionate kissing is not a human universal
From pop culture to evolutionary psychology, we have come to take kissing for granted as universally desirable among humans and inseparable from other aspects of affection and intimacy. However, a recent article in American Anthropologist…
Celebrating the Vernal Equinox
The vernal equinox marks the beginning of Spring, representing the moment when the sun passes directly over the equator. This time of year is known for its many cultural and religious celebrations. For instance, Easter…
Surviving Winter Weather
Here in New England, a deep freeze has blanketed homes and streets with snow and ice this winter, making for treacherous and exhausting conditions including power outages, frozen plumbing and unending traffic congestion. With the…
eHRAF Highlights
Why Hunter-Gatherers have Fewer “F” and “V” Sounds
Damián Blasi at the University of Zurich and a research associate here at HRAF has just published a paper with colleagues in…
Cross-Culturally Exploring the Concept of Shamanism
Jeffrey Vadala “The shaman is not merely a sick man…
Women, gender and power in eHRAF
How does the relationship between gender and power vary cross-culturally?…
Does Stress Increase the Strength of Cultural Norms?
Carol R. Ember, Michele J. Gelfand, Joshua Conrad Jackson, and…