Found 802 Documents across 81 Pages (0.009 seconds)
  1. Effects of Evolution, Ecology, and Economy on Human Diet: Insights from Hunter-Gatherers and Other Small-Scale SocietiesPontzer, Herman - Annual Review of Nutrition, 2021 - 2 Hypotheses

    This study, primarily a review on the evolution of the human diet, also includes a small study on the distribution of meat-eating and its relationship with climate and cultural factors, namely subsistence type. The authors find that societies with subsistence strategies that prioritize fishing, hunting, or pastoralism also tend to consume more animal products, whereas those that focus on agriculture have more plant-based diets. The authors argue that these small-scale societies have a healthier approach to diet than industrialized societies regardless of their subsistence type or meat consumption.

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  2. Drivers of insect consumption across human populationsCruz y Celis Peniche, Patricio - Evolutionary Anthropology, 2022 - 2 Hypotheses

    This study seeks to shed light on the practice of entomophagy (insect consumption) across human population and seeks to explain the variability in its practice. The author explore potential ecological predictors for insect consumption (climate, subsistence practices, other available food resources, dietary needs) as well as cultural predictors (social transmission, cultural norms, evolution, and shift). Ultimately, the author concludes that entomophagy may be a useful medium through which to examine the interaction between social learning, subsistence strategies, and modernization.

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  3. A cross-cultural study of protein consumption: the role of cultural taboos in the differential use of animal protein in a sample of 100 societiesHuman Relations Area Files - Final report USPHS Grant No. A-3557, 1961 - 2 Hypotheses

    This study was designed to determine whether there is a significant correlation between the number (or intensity) of restrictions on consumption of animal protein and a low level of animal protein. Findings do not support a correlation.

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  4. Behavioural variation in 172 small-scale societies indicates that social learning is the main mode of human adaptationMathew, Sarah - Proc. R. Soc. B, 2015 - 8 Hypotheses

    Inter-group variation is greater in humans than in any other animal, and scholars continue to debate the cause of this diversity. Two competing explanatory models of human variation emphasize either (1) ecological differences and "evoked" culture or (2) population-level effects of cultural transmission. The former emphasizes mechanisms that operate within a single generation, while the latter emphasizes cumulative cultural history operating over many generations. To test these competing models, the authors measured the relative power of ecological variables as compared to culture history to predict behavioral variation in 172 western North American tribes. Culture history is subdivided into culture phylogeny (based on language phylogeny) and spatial distance.

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  5. Arranged Marriage Often Subverts Offspring Mate Choice: An HRAF-Based StudyAgey, Elizabeth - American Anthropologist, 2021 - 1 Hypotheses

    In this study, the authors explore the presence of disagreement between parents and their children over choice in spouse as an extension of theories regarding the evolution of mate choice. In non-human animal studies, free mate choice is generally associated with higher fitness. Thus mate preferences, in humans and non-human animals, may have evolved to improve fitness in comparison to random mating. Arranged marriages might likewise reduce biological fitness if parents choose a different spouse than their children would choose. Using ethnographic data from 119 societies, the authors assess the degree to which parents and offspring disagree on mate choice. In about 85% of the cases examined, parents disagreed with offspring choice. The authors call for explicit research on fitness outcomes when disagreement occurs.

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  6. Cassava production and processing in a cross-cultural sample of african societiesRomanoff, Steven - Behavior Science Research, 1992 - 12 Hypotheses

    This exploratory study seeks to explain cassava production and processing in Africa by considering cultural, agronomic, and environmental data. After examining the descriptive results of the agricultural and social contexts of cassava use, the authors build upon Boserup's population density model (1965) to analyze their own hypothesized model of cassava's importance among the sampled societies.

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  7. Sociobiology: Another viewMunroe, Robert L. - Reviews in Anthropology, 1976 - 1 Hypotheses

    This article suggests that Wilson's definition of sociobiology, which incorporates underlying principles of animal social behavior, can be applied to human bahvior. Specifically, Wilson's assertion that the major ecological conditions associated with monogamy in animal societies, is tested on human societies.

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  8. Function predicts how people treat their dogs in a global sampleChira, Angela M. - Nature Scientific Reports, 2023 - 3 Hypotheses

    The article discusses how our understanding of dog-human bonds, dog behavior, and dog cognition is limited to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies, and the question of whether associations between dogs and humans are representative worldwide. The study collected data on the function and perception of dogs in 124 globally distributed societies using the eHRAF cross-cultural database. The results showed that keeping dogs for multiple purposes and/or employing dogs for highly cooperative or high investment functions is associated with closer dog-human bonds, increased primary caregiving, decreased negative treatment, and attributing personhood to dogs. The study challenges the notion that all dogs are the same and opens questions about how function and associated cultural correlates could fuel departures from the ‘typical’ behavior and social-cognitive skills we commonly associate with our canine friends.

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  9. Dog-Human Coevolution: Cross-Cultural Analysis of Multiple HypothesesChambers, Jaime - Journal of Ethnobiology, 2021 - 16 Hypotheses

    In this article, the authors seek to understand dog-human coevolution by considering predictors of different aspects of dog-human relationships across cultures. In order to measure dog-human relationships, the researchers created three indexes: dogs' utility for humans (DUH), humans' utility for dogs (HUD), and the personhood of dogs (PD). Each of these indexes were tested against various pre-coded variables that were empirically and theoretically relevant to this subject.

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  10. Nonlinear scaling of space use in human hunter-gatherersHamilton, Marcus J. - Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2007 - 6 Hypotheses

    Using a representative sample of 339 hunter-gatherer societies, researchers examine the relationship between hunter-gatherer use of space, size of population and supply of resources to see if they are similar to other organisms. By combining all factors into a single model, the authors claim to explain 86% of the variation in home range. Hunters have greater resource distribution than gatherers but both more so than aquatic foragers. Lastly, terrestrial foragers have more extensive home ranges than aquatic foragers.

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