This article used sub-national, historical and cross-country data to examine if exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV-R) could be a factor in the formation of individualism and collectivism. The study found support, across all data sets, that increased exposure to UV-R is associated to more collectivism within a culture. The authors theorized that UV-R exposure increases the likelihood of eye disease causing higher rates of blindness. With increased levels of blindness, the more emphasis there will be on close family relations and/or increased uncertainty avoidance from out-groups leading to more collectivism in a culture.

The authors propose that societies with a tradition of rice farming are less likely to develop a democracy than societies with a tradition of wheat farming. They base their predictions on the theory that wheat farming, as opposed to rice farming, does not require extensive community collaboration and promotes individualism, which then in turn promotes democracy. Their findings were robustly consistent with their predictions. The authors used multiple controls in their analyses, including religion, economic development, geography, and local democratic practices.

Drawing from previous theories on the cultural variation of depression, this article tested the relationship between 24 sociocultural and ecological factors and the prevalence of depression across 195 countries and territories. The authors first conducted a zero-order association test to find the most contributory factors. Those variables were further tested in a regression model, and controlled for the under-reporting of depression by measuring the number of healthcare workers per capita. The authors found that cultural individualism was the only factor that positively predicted depression prevalence in a multiple regression model.

This study analyzes Weber's religious ethic thesis by investigating the relationship of religiosity on economic, social, and expressive individualism. The author found that religiosity increased economic individualism, and decreased social and expressive individualism. Under the notion that natural disasters prompt collectivistic defensive mechanisms, the author demonstrated some support that low levels of pathogen prevalence strengthened religiosity's relationships with social and expressive individualism, but not for economic individualism. The author did not find support for Weber's idea that Protestation will increase economic individualism and other religions, such as Islam, decrease economic individualism.

This study posits that dowry is a recent historical development, and that cultural complexity is a necessary but not sufficient cause for its emergence. Comparisons of frequencies support these claims.

A study of the factors that predict extremely masculine behaviors and traits in men (conceptualized as protest masculinity in the status-envy and father-absence theories). Findings point to the important role of socialization for aggression as a mediating factor in the relationship between father's role and "protest masculinity."

This article investigates the relationship between economic type and socialization of children. The author focuses on the concentration of value emphases in childhood socialization--that is, whether children are instilled with several different value orientations rather than just one or two. Value concentration is examined alongside subsistence technology and economic diversification; attention is also paid to gender differences.

This study presents a psychological theory for adolescent initiation ceremonies. Findings support the hypothesis that initiation is a mechanism for maintaining continuity between the stages of childhood and adulthood, when the body is physiologically in discontinuity.

In this article, the authors seek to understand the cultural and economic determinants of climate change concern and personal responsibility in climate change mitigation efforts. They do this by analyzing data on these topics drawn from survey participants from every European Union (EU) country. The paper is primarily concerned with cultural predictors (following Hofstede's (2001) cultural dimensions), levels of development, and personal impacts of climate change mitigation efforts.

This book chapter tests new and pre-existing theories (Horton, Field, Bacon et al.) for the cause of variation in drinking across cultures. Folktale content is used to test psychological variables more directly than has been done previously. Folktale content is analyzed programmatically with an acknowledged error level of up to one-third. Results lend support to Field's 1962 theory that loose social organization facilitates drinking.