This article takes an evolutionary approach to understanding the patterns of characterization in folktales cross-culturally. Results indicate that literature shares several common themes cross-culturally, including mate selection and kin directed altruism.

Researchers used various hypotheses to determine if cross-country differences in trust and cooperation would predict prosocial COVID-19 responses and policies. Using individual surveys from 34,526 participants from 41 countries, there were no significant associations between trust and cooperation and prosocial behavior, motivation, regulation, or stringency of policies. While the researchers did find significant variation among cross-country individuals, these results were unable to predict country-level prosocial responses.

This paper presents a series of predictions that are derived from the assumption that kin selection an altruism are evolved components of human social behavior. Several examples from the anthropological literature that pertain to these predictions are discussed. Data presented are mostly consistent with the predictions.

This study examined the relationship between market integration and generalized prosocial behavior. The authors review theory suggesting that market integration fosters cooperation and fairness in dealing with strangers, and they investigate whether child training for generosity, honesty, and trust are associated with level of market integration among societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. Results do not indicate an association.

This book examines population growth rate and its correlates by testing 274 hypotheses (derived from multiple theories) with an 18-society sample. Forty-one of these hypotheses were significant at the .05 level, leading the author to accept these relationships as reflective of the real world. The 274 hypotheses are grouped into 51 broader hypotheses, and marked by (*) where relationships are significant as designated by the author or by significance p < 0.05.

This study discusses many variables that may influence the direction of altruism within a family. Significant relationships were found between paternity certainty, conjugal instability, marital residence, cross-cousin marriage preferences, and direction of altruistic behavior. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of the mother's brother.

This article explores differences between "tight" cultures ("have many strong norms and low tolerance of deviant behavior") and "loose" cultures ("have weak social norms and high tolerance of deviant behavior"). The tightness-looseness measure manifests in a myriad of macro and micro phenomena, from governance and religiosity to individual psychological processes. This study investigates these phenomena in modern nations rather than traditional societies. Potential ecological, historical, and socio-political predictors of tightness-looseness are also examined.

This article uses alliance theory and kin selection theory to examine the relationship between consanguineous marriage and descent system. The author argues that there is no relationship between the severity of incest taboos and the rules of exogamy or endogamy. A series of testable hypotheses regarding incest, marital, and descent rules are presented.

"The kin selection hypothesis posits that male androphilia evolved because androphilic males invest more in kin, thereby enhancing inclusive fitness." However, increased kin-directed altruism has only been seen in societies that exhibit transgendered male androphilia. To test the validity of the kin selection hypothesis for male androphilia, the authors examine the relationship between ancestral sociocultural conditions, access to kin, and societal reactions to homosexuality and the expression of male androphilia as transgendered or non-transgendered. They find that ancestral sociocultural conditions and bilateral and double descent systems were more common in transgendered than non-transgendered societies.

This study examines the lineal-collateral value orientation, wherein “emphasis is placed on the individual as an integral part of an extended family type of structure which is primary” (3). Analysis suggests this value orientation is associated with restriction of premarital sexual practices and pregnancy.