This paper examines three measures of cultural complexity: Naroll’s (1956) social development index, Freeman’s (1957) Guttman scale of folk-urbanism, and Carneiro and Tobias’ (1963) Guttman scale of cultural complexity. The authors find significant associations between these three measures, suggesting that their strong validity. When used together, these measures account for a culture’s urbanization, organizational ramification, occupational specialization, and cumulative informational content of culture.

This manuscript examines the relationship between contribution to subsistence and residence localization. This relationship is explored separately for both genders in both agricultural and non-agricultural societies. Results indicate that the relationship is positive for males in non-agricultural societies and negative for females in agricultural societies. Tests on community size, marginality, and endogamy are also conducted.

What explains global variation in sex ratio at birth? To address this question, the authors present the results of their previous research on sex ratio at birth (2003), and additionally introduce new research on the correlations between sex ratio and marriage costs, such as a dowry or brideprice. Using a phylogenetic approach, the authors find that there is no correlation between sex ratio at birth and marriage payments. Analysis is restricted to the Old World.

What explains global variation in sex ratio at birth? To address this question, the authors present the results of their previous research on sex ratio at birth (2003), and additionally introduce new research on the correlations between sex ratio and marriage costs, such as a dowry or brideprice. Using a phylogenetic approach, the authors find that there is no correlation between sex ratio at birth and marriage payments. Analysis is restricted to the Old World.

Can physiological variation in human populations be attributed to environmental variables? Arguing for the importance of phylogenetic comparative methods, the authors present the results of previous research by Holden & Mace (1997) on lactose intolerance as well as introduce new research on sex ratio at birth. The authors suggest that global variance in sex ratio at birth is an adapted response to the physiological costs of giving birth to boys in high fertility populations.

This paper reviews the results of the author's cross-cultural studies of war and aggression and their implications for prehistory.

This dissertation discusses the divided theoretical approach to how reincarnation, animism, spirits, and general religious beliefs occur within societies cross-culturally. Matlock offers evidence to support Tyler, contradicting the generally accepted Durkheimian approach, arguing that the belief about souls and spirits may originate in dreams and other empirical experiences, in turn informing and shaping social organization. Durkheim argued the opposite, claiming that religious beliefs reflect social organization such as the clan and kinship. The author states 33 quantitative hypotheses to be tested using 30 of the first 60 sample societies available in the HRAF Probability Sample.

This study presents a sociological theory of marriage type based on socioeconomic organization. Results suggest that intensive agriculture, more stratification, greater political integration, a fixed settlement pattern, a larger population, and greater labor specialization tended to be correlates of monogamy.

This article tests the relationship between child-training variables and cultural complexity. Attention is paid to different types of socialization pressure (group-oriented versus individual-oriented; the degree of anxiety created by the pressure). Findings suggest that group-oriented socialization promotes societal complexity, but individual-oriented socialization and pressure-induced anxiety do not.

This paper presents empirical evidence suggesting that multilocal residence is most common in societies that have experienced depopulation, likely due to the introduction of a new infectious disease. Other potential explanatory variables—such as the presence of migratory bands, little or no agriculture, and equality of the sexes in inheritance—were not significant predictors of multilocal residence when controlling for depopulation.