This study explores the ways in which human deception has evolved using a sample of 145 societies from eHRAF. After noticing that most research has focused just on tactical deception on humans, this study delved into the categorization and prevalence of human aggressive mimicry. The authors suggest that deception evolved from the context of directing it toward prey. The presence of human aggressive mimicry supports that this is a near-universal cross-cultural practice among hunter-gatherers and the authors highlight the importance of further research on human-nonhuman interactions. The authors posit that this hypothesis could serve as a link between the Social Brain Hypothesis and the Foraging Brain Hypothesis.

In this article, the authors reconsider the polygyny threshold model in order to account for the "polygyny paradox." This paradox, as the authors define it, is the trend away from polygyny as societies adopt stratified agricultural economies. This is despite an increase in both the importance of material wealth and greater leaves of wealth inequality both of which would otherwise suggest increased polygyny. The authors develop a new model that does account for this paradox.

The researchers develop and compare two evolutionary models to evaluate the association between social stratification and female genital modification(FGMo) in a cross-cultural African sample, theorizing that social hierarchy creates competition for high-value males in which FGMo acts as a costly demonstration of paternity certainty. Although the null model outperforms the stratification model when applied to empirical data, an association between FGMo and stratification is found in the expected direction. The authors suggest that while stratification may be an important factor in the de novo origins of FGMo, spread and persistence of the practice subsequently become more heavily dependent on other selective forces.

Researchers examine ethnographic literature from Africa and Colombia and conduct interviews in 12 Colombian cities with the aim of exploring the connection between female genital modification (FGMo) in Colombia and Africa. They theorize that the trans-atlantic slave trade was the start of sociocultural transmission of FGMo pratices to Colombia, and that this will be evident based on the presence of FGMo practices and the composition and connectivity of populations.

This article tests differing theories of why a man's marriage of his mother's brother's daughter is often encouraged while marriage of the father's sister's daughter is discouraged. Maintenance of relationships between bride-givers and bride takers is considered, as are the role of childhood sentiments in choosing a spouse.

In this study of 80 societies, the author initially sets out to test the theory that if social customs and rules forbid satisfaction of sexual impulses, "civilization" will be built based on sacrifices of these desires.

This article tests the effect of environmental risk on parental investment, differentiating between maternal and paternal care. Results indicate that the saturation point of parental investment may be a function of environmental risk, as parental care experiences diminishing returns due to extrinsic risks.

This study examines the relationship between pairbonds and lactation, specifically the relationship between pairbond stability, alloparenting, and cross-cultural trends in breastfeeding. Findings show that both conjugal stability and availability of alloparental care are associated with age at weaning.

This article explores differences between "tight" cultures ("have many strong norms and low tolerance of deviant behavior") and "loose" cultures ("have weak social norms and high tolerance of deviant behavior"). The tightness-looseness measure manifests in a myriad of macro and micro phenomena, from governance and religiosity to individual psychological processes. This study investigates these phenomena in modern nations rather than traditional societies. Potential ecological, historical, and socio-political predictors of tightness-looseness are also examined.

This study employs a psychological theory and builds on the holocultural literature on male homosexuality. Two hypotheses relating homosexual behavior among men to social constructs for sexuality (the couvade, male transvestism) are derived from a study by Munroe (1980). The hypotheses are tested and supported in a sample of cultures drawn from Munroe's codes and the Human Relations Area Files.