This article examines attitudes toward salt as a cultural mechanism to regulate salt consumption, finding that meat-eating societies (associated with higher salt consumption) have more negative proverbs and other forms of cultural expression associated with salt, and societies with plant-based diets (associated with lower salt consumption) have more positive cultural expressions.

This paper presents a series of predictions that are derived from the assumption that kin selection an altruism are evolved components of human social behavior. Several examples from the anthropological literature that pertain to these predictions are discussed. Data presented are mostly consistent with the predictions.

This article presents a preliminary cross-cultural analysis of wifebeating. The author examines the relationships between wifebeating and various socio-economic variables and finds potential relationships between father absence, general acceptance of violence and wifebeating.

This study examines predictors of the type of conflict management used at the community level. Results suggest that level of political integration is associated with mode of conflict management.

"Data from 15 societies are presented in an effort to show substantial intersocietal differences of two types in susceptibility to geometric optical illusions. The results suggest the existence of different habits of perceptual inference which relate to cultural and ecological factors in the visual environment."

In this study, the authors analyze relationships between witchcraft accusations and the gender of the accused. They find that men are most often accused of witchcraft in their sample of 54 Bantu or Bantoid societies, and are particularly more likely to be accused of witchcraft by unrelated or blood-related individuals or in disputes over wealth or prestige. On the other hand, women are more likely to be accused of witchcraft in affinal relationships, particularly husbands and co-wives, and in situations related to fertility or relationships. Elderly women were also more likely to be accused of witchcraft than elderly men. The authors also examined outcomes of witchcraft accusations, finding that 81% of cases resulted in a negative outcome for the accused. They suggest that competition underlies accusations of witchcraft.

This study explores predictors of variation in two dimensions of marital residence patterns among hunter-gatherers: 1) the tendency toward patrilocality versus matrilocality and 2) the tendency toward unilocality versus bilocality.

The present research investigates food sharing and labor sharing practices of 98 nonindustrial societies. The aims are to: 1) document the frequency and scope of sharing, and 2) test the theory that greater sharing is adaptive in societies subject to more resource stress (including natural hazards).

This article uses the Standard Cross-Cultural Samples to test the relationship between disease and economic growth among sub-Saharan African societies. The authors suggest that a higher disease prevalence limits social integration and economic development since pre-colonial times. The variable measuring economic growth is the complexity of large or impressive structures. The hypotheses are that 1) pathogen stress is negatively correlated to the presence of complex buildings, and 2) pathogen stress is positively correlated to increased ethnic diversity. The results support both hypotheses, and there are additional results, like 1) the negative correlation between pathogen stress and current income per capita and 2) the negative correlation between the increased ethnic diversity and current income per capita. Overall, this article shows the robust relationship between disease and economic development.

This study relates the type of games present in a society to the level of cultural complexity. Authors use a "game-type combination scale" that categorizes societies as having: 1) games of physical skill only; 2) games of physical skill and games of chance; and 3) games of physical skill, games of chance, and games of strategy. Results show a relationship between the game-type combination scale and indicators of cultural complexity.