The researchers recode Broudeand Greene's (1976) SCCS data in order to distinguish between 'rare and absent' and different types of culturally-mediated same sex behavior, and to expand available data by including documents outside the SCCS. Their procedure suggests that androphilia is present in 57.5 - 83.6% and same-sex behavior present in 91.1% of all societies. They argue that these new data qualify androphilia as a context-dependent human universal, defined by Chapais (2014) as "patterns of behaviors that invariably or consistently arise in specific social circumstances in some cultures or population segments." (Hames et al. 69)

In this article Hames addresses the long-standing disagreements between evolutionary theories regarding human warfare (more specifically between Rousseauian and Hobbesian frameworks). This study posits that while most current and previous research focuses on the discrepancies between the frequency and intensity with which warfare takes place between hunter-gatherer and large-scale societies, the ability for societies to live in peace with their neighbors despite the possibility for warfare, is the most important evolutionary trait. Coexisting peacefully is what distinguishes human socially and politically from chimpanzees whereas warfare itself is a more primitive trait humans share with previous ancestors. Hames concludes that going forward, use of phylogenetic methods to control for common ancestry, and use of archaeological data would lead to new and more comprehensive findings. Although largely a review of principal warfare literature, Hames does present an original statistical finding on adult violence mortality which is reported below.

This book examines the difference between warless and warlike societies and attempts to determine the point at which a society becomes warlike. The author suggests that differences between warless and warlike societies are mostly organizational and hypothesizes that "unsegmented" societies, or societies that have a weaker sense of group identity and cohesion, will be more likely to be warless than "segmented" societies. Several tests are presented. Results generally support the hypothesis.

This article identifies several methodological errors in the original study or moralizing gods by Roes and Raymond (2003) and presents new multiple regression model. Results suggest that a belief in moralizing gods is spread though cultural transmission, but it is also associated with conditions such as lower agricultural potential and lower external warfare. The authors theorize that moralizing gods have functional purposes such as bolstering property rights or maintaining social hierarchy.

This article explores determinants of non-classical polyandry, which the authors assert is more common than is usually conveyed. Results indicate that societies with non-classical polyandry tend to be small scale and egalitarian, practice hunting and gathering or horticulture, and have a male-skewed sex ratio. Overall polyandry is thought to add to the reproductive fitness of both men and women.

Grooming of conspecifics is thought to play an important social role among nonhuman primates, but the function and relative importance of such grooming among humans is unknown. Here the authors compare time spent grooming and conversing among six small-scale societies with grooming data from 69 nonhuman primate species. They test the hypothesis that conversation evolved among humans as an alternative way to obtain the social benefits (such as building and maintaining social alliances) of grooming in large groups.

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.