Cultural complexity and demography: The case of folktakes
Evolution and Human Behavior • Vol/Iss. 38(2017) • Elsevier • • Published In • Pages: 474-480 •
By Acerbi, Alberto, Kendal, Jeremy, Tehrani, Jamshid J.
Hypothesis
Population size will have an influence on cultural complexity as measured by the number of narrative motifs in folk tales of magic
Note
A negative, but non-significant relationship was found: "tales told in larger populations have a lower average number of motifs than those in smaller groups (p.477)." 5.5% and 94.5% quantiles of the posterior probability were found to be -0.07 and -0.03. (model using nineteenth century estimates of population size showed similar results)
| Test Name | Support | Significance | Coefficient | Tail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayesian multilevel model with Poisson likelihood | Not Supported | n.a. | Beta= -0.05 | UNKNOWN |
| Variable Name | Variable Type | OCM Term(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Population Size | Independent | Population |
| Number of narrative motifs in folk tales of magic | Dependent | Verbal Arts, Literature, Literary Texts, Texts |