Found 389 Documents across 39 Pages (0.01 seconds)
  1. Hunter-gatherers and the origins of religionPeoples, Hervey C. - Human Nature, 2016 - 6 Hypotheses

    What is the evolutionary sequence of beliefs in hunter-gatherers? The authors attempt to answer this question by reconstructing the development of various traits in traditional societies using phylogenetic and linguistic source trees. Testing for correlated evolution between this reconstruction and population history as proxied by linguistic classification suggests the presence of animism at profound time depth, aligning with classical anthropological religious theory put forth by E.B. Tylor. Coevolutions between other religious concepts including shamanism, ancestor worship, active ancestor worship, high gods, active high gods, and belief in an afterlife are also examined.

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  2. Death symbolism in matrilineal societiesSomersan, Semra - Ethos, 1984 - 3 Hypotheses

    This study focuses on death symbolism in relation to matrilineal descent. Findings suggest that matrilineal societies are more likely than patrilineal or bilateral societies to believe in ancestral spirits, reincarnation, and a quality of afterlife unconditioned on individual’s behavior.

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  3. A cross-cultural study of reincarnation ideologies and their social correlatesMatlock, James Graham - , 1993 - 33 Hypotheses

    This dissertation discusses the divided theoretical approach to how reincarnation, animism, spirits, and general religious beliefs occur within societies cross-culturally. Matlock offers evidence to support Tyler, contradicting the generally accepted Durkheimian approach, arguing that the belief about souls and spirits may originate in dreams and other empirical experiences, in turn informing and shaping social organization. Durkheim argued the opposite, claiming that religious beliefs reflect social organization such as the clan and kinship. The author states 33 quantitative hypotheses to be tested using 30 of the first 60 sample societies available in the HRAF Probability Sample.

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  4. Population growth, society, and culture: an inventory of cross-culturally tested causal hypothesesSipes, Richard G. - , 1980 - 51 Hypotheses

    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.

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  5. The birth of the gods; the origin of primitive beliefsSwanson, Guy E. - , 1960 - 10 Hypotheses

    This book investigates the origins of supernatural and religious beliefs. The author tests associations between various types of beliefs (e.g. witchcraft, monotheism) and various societal characteristics (e.g. mobility, class stratification). Many hypotheses are supported. Theoretical discussion is included, and the author posits that “the belief in a particular kind of spirit springs from experiences with a type of persisting sovereign group whose area of jurisdiction corresponds to that attributed to the spirit” (175).

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  6. Family and land in peasant ritualMichaelson, Evalyn Jacobson - American Ethnologist, 1976 - 3 Hypotheses

    This article investigates the relationship between religious practices and the importance of land and family in peasant communities. Results suggest that religious observances are reflective of the dominant concerns of peasant life, such as land inheritance.

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  7. The birth of the gods revisited: a partial replication of guy swanson's (1960) cross-cultural study of religionPeregrine, Peter N. - Cross-Cultural Research, 1996 - 2 Hypotheses

    This article retests several hypotheses from Swanson’s (1960) study on the origins of religious belief. The author finds support for an association between high gods and large communities, multiple levels of political hierarchy, and social differentiation. No support is found for Swanson’s other hypotheses concerning polytheism, ancestral spirits, reincarnation, the soul, witchcraft, and morality and their relations to social, political, and economic variables.

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  8. Naming and identity: a cross-cultural study of personal naming practicesAlford, Richard - , 1987 - 14 Hypotheses

    This book examines naming practices cross-culturally. The author posits that naming practices help to both reflect and create conceptions of personal identity. Several correlations between name meanings and practices and various sociocultural variables are presented.

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  9. Sorcery, sin and the superego: a cross-cultural study of some mechanisms of social controlWhiting, John W.M. - Cross-Cultural Approaches: Readings in Comparative Research, 1967 - 6 Hypotheses

    This chapter examines how sorcery, sin, and the superego function in societies to uphold taboos and other forms of social control. The author also explores the child-rearing conditions that are necessary to produce and maintain these cultural mechanisms. Several hypotheses are tested and all are supported.

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  10. Cross-Cultural Correlates of the Ownership of Private Property: A Look from Another Data BaseRudmin, Floyd Webster - Anthropologica, 1992 - 2 Hypotheses

    The present study builds upon Rudmin's 1992a publication by using a second data base to replicate and evaluate analyses on the cross-cultural correlates of private property ownership. Rudmin seeks to assess the reliability of Swanson's (1966) data base of 39 variables coded on 50 cultures. To do so, Swanson's data was evaluated against matching societies and variables from Murdock's (1967) Ethnographic Atlas. Swanson's reliable variables are tested against three measures of property ownership, one from Swanson and two from Murdock. Rudmin discusses results and speculates why certain clusters of societal variables correlate with private property ownership.

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