Using Bayesian models incorporating 40,000 radiocarbon dates from 16 discrete human societies throughout history, this study attempts to identify patterns in human disaster-resilience, at the society level. On average, the study finds that societies that have experienced more catastrophes in the past tend to be more resilient in the face of new disasters, experiencing less severe impacts and quicker recoveries. The authors speculate that this may be due to social memory, as resiliency strategies tend to get passed down across generations. Meanwhile, the models also found that societies more reliant on farming and herding also tend to be more susceptible to crisis, but recover more quickly. Across the 16-society sample, which spanned all of human history, climate-related catastrophes stood out as the most common.

A small sample (16 cultures) is used to examine the influence of cultural variables on the psychological constructs of self-concept and causal attributions. Results suggest that valued goals (collectivism vs. individualism) and group norms (tightness vs. looseness) both influence self-concept and causal attributions.

The article examines whether cultural groups tend to use supernatural beliefs more to explain natural phenomena or social phenomena. Analysis of ethnographic text from 114 diverse societies reveals that supernatural explanations are more common for natural phenomena, consistent with the theory that humans tend to perceive intent and agency in the natural world. However, supernatural explanations of social phenomena were more prevalent in urbanized societies with greater social complexity and anonymity. The study highlights how people use supernatural beliefs to explain their world and how this varies across small-scale and urbanized communities.

This study tested for cross-cultural patterns in the age at which societies "assume responsibility or teachability in children or assign a more mature social, sexual, or cultural role [to children]” (353). Out of 27 variables measuring the assignment of roles and responsibilities to children, 16 showed “a modal cultural assignment of social responsibility in the 5- to 7-year age range” (353).

By analyzing patterns of between- and within-population musical variability among 16 Austronesian-speaking aboriginal groups, the researchers hope to evaluate degree of similarity to structures of human genetic diversity. As in the genetic domain, within-population variance is found to be much higher than between-population variance, leading the researchers to suggest that patterns of musical distance and divergence may serve as an indicator of cultural evolution.

In this article, the authors explore cultural variables that they propose contribute to the maintenance of peace in non-warring societies. These variables are compared in 16 peaceful systems (as coded by the authors from anthropological and historical data) and in 30 warring societies taken from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). Findings associate more peaceful cultures with peace systems, and non-peaceful cultures with warring societies.

The study is about matrilineal systems, where descent is traced along female lines. Matrilineal systems are relatively rare in human populations, and previous research has discussed the rarity and apparent instability of matriliny. The study aims to study the evolution of descent systems on a worldwide scale. The study tests for significant associations between matriliny and numerous cultural traits that have been theoretically associated with its stability or loss, such as subsistence strategy, animal domestication, mating system, residence pattern, wealth transfer, and property succession. Additionally, by combining genetic and linguistic information to build a global supertree that includes 16 matrilineal populations, the study also performs phylogenetically controlled analyses to assess the patterns of correlated evolution between descent and other traits.

The research presented in this book challenges the notion that languages develop color terms independently of other languages. Authors find a universal inventory of eleven basic color categories from which the basic color terms are drawn. Authors also find an apparent fixed sequence of evolutionary stages through which a language must pass as its color vocabulary increases. A postive correlation between cultural complexity and complexity of color vocabulary is observed.

This study examined possible relationships between food sharing practices, subsistence strategies, and various environmental settings using 22 small-scale societies across America and Siberia. After performing exploratory analyses between each of the 21 socio-economic variables and the 14 basic sharing practices, which amounted to a total of 294 tests, the researchers found hardly any statistically significant relationships.

The paper presents the preliminary findings of pilot studies testing the factors affecting the variation in rules regarding premarital sex cross-culturally. Only the trends emerging from the pilot studies are discussed. No findings are conclusive.