This article investigates how superordinate justice (whereby officials can arbitrate disputes involving homicide) and superordinate punishment (whereby officials can punish perpetrators of homicide) affect the level of internal violence in preindustrial societies. Results suggest that these two types of superordinate power do deter violent fatalities but that overall, “in order to increase violence substantively, arbitration authority over killings must be backed up by the power to penalize” (395).

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 paper hypothesizes that cross-cultural variation in rhythm is related to variation in infant carrying practices. Suggestions are made regarding the psychological origin of rhythm as well as the function and importance of music in human experience.

This article investigates child socialization toward obedience and conformity as a function of the supervision that parents experience in their own lives. Measures of economic, familial, political, and religious supervision in parents' lives are examined.

This article examines correlates of premarital sexual norms cross-culturally. Several explainations of restrictiveness of premarital sex are reviewed, and results indicate that accessibility of caretakers in childhood, class stratification and cultural complexity are all related to premarital sexual norms.