In this study researchers were interested in the evolution of units of measurement from the concrete, tangible phenomena from which they originated to their current abstractness. The study looked at 48 English linear measures with known origins from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), along with ethnographies from 30 different cultures in HRAF, from which 352 different length units emerged. The ‘career of measurement’ was broken down into four different stages – ad hoc comparison, conventionalization, standardization, and systematization. These four stages were directly linked to changes in how the units themselves were used and understood both in language as well as everyday life. In both the OED as well as HRAF, units of measurement often stemmed from the human body, exemplifying the important role the body plays in abstract thinking. Although this study in particular focused on units of length, the researchers believe that the same trends will extend to other units of measurement including weight, volume, and area.

This paper examines two measures of cultural complexity: Carneiro’s (1970) scale and codes assembled at the University of Pittsburg. Analysis suggests the two measures are compatible, thus providing evidence for their validity. The authors assess the usefulness of a cultural complexity scale by testing the relationship between descent rules and cultural complexity. Significant associations suggest that cultural complexity is related to social organization and is thereby a useful measure.

This study examines why conflict emerges and how societies resolve it. The authors posit that increasing societal scale and differentiation create more potential for conflict but also more complex forms of conflict resolution. Analysis supports this theory, showing that measures of cultural complexity are positively associated with legal mechanisms for conflict resolution.

In order to investigate cross-cultural variation in systems of conversational turn-taking (who speaks and when), the researchers analyze the association of various contextual, verbal, and non-verbal factors with mean response time. Despite some variation in response time between languages, each of the explanatory variables is found to have significant impact on response time independent of language. A further test on subjective perception of ideal response time suggests that although similar factors act on response patterns cross-culturally (in support of a 'universal systems' theory), speakers are hypersensitive to even minor cultural variations in response time.

This article develops a new measure of religious evolution and uses multivariate statistical techniques to examine correlates of different religious stages. Results suggest that subsistence economy, societal size, and the presence of writing and records are all associated with the evolution toward monotheism.

Stark attempts to resituate Tylor's formulation of religion by calling into question Swanson's (1960) and Peregrine's (1996) findings that supernatural sanctions and moral behavior are consistently correlated in small-scale societies. Positing that Swanson's correlations were confounded by variables related to cultural complexity, Stark tests the association of presence of moralizing Gods with cultural complexity explicitly, as well as measures of morality in various nations as provided by the World Values Survey (1990-1991). The robust correlations across cultures noted below, as well as cross-national findings, provide support for the researcher's theory that it is particular conceptions of God rather than participation in rites and rituals which empower religion to sustain complex moral culture.

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 is a comprehensive analysis of female and male genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C and MGM/C) practices, including their history and socio-ecological correlates, using a phylogenetic cross-cultural framework. It employed two global ethnographic samples, the Ethnographic Atlas (EA) and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), and two subsets of the phylogeny (supertree) of human populations based on genetic and linguistic data, to investigate the variables that may have led to the introduction of these practices, and to determine where and when they may have originated. The study suggests that MGM/C probably originated in polygynous societies with separate residence for co-wives, supporting a mate-guarding function, and that FGM/C likely originated subsequently and almost exclusively in societies already practicing MGM/C, where it may have become a signal of chastity. Both practices are believed to have originated multiple times, some as early as in the mid-Holocene (5,000–7,000 years ago). The study posits that GM/C co-evolves with and may help maintain fundamental social structures and that the high fitness costs of FGM/C are offset by social benefits, such as enhanced marriageability and social capital.

This chapter explores the relationship between cultural complexity and song. Several measures of cultural complexity are correlated with different aspects of singing. All hypotheses are supported.

The present study aims to evaluate correlations of private property from two of Murdock's datasets, one of 147 societies (1981) and the other of 312 societies (1967). Altogether the author tested 146 variables coded by Murdock against variables regarding the ownership of land and of movables drawn from Murdock (1967), Simmons (1937), and Swanson (1960). In total, there were 51 statistically significant correlations between private property ownership and other variables. Additionally, the author summarizes the results from this article and the two that preceded it stating that throughout all of the correlations he ran, the practice of agriculture, the use of cereal grains, and the presence of castes and classes were the only variables that predicted private property in all of the datasets that were utilized.