Several theories on the development of matrilocal residence are tested. The main argument put forth predicts that matrilocal residence will develop in response to a need to break up fraternal interest groups that encourage internal war and instead encourage a pattern of external war that is more beneficial in populated regions with additional group migration.

How is the evolution of language shaped by speaker population size? Through comparative data analyses of 153 language pairs from the Austronesian, Indo-European, and Niger-Congo language families, the authors find that the influence of population size on language evolution is not the same in the three language families. Only in Indo-European languages did a smaller population size of language-speakers significantly predict more word loss.

This paper investigates the relationship between marital residence and warfare. The author evaluates two theories proposing opposite causalities: one, that internal warfarecauses patrilocality; the other, that residence comes first and influences type of warfare. The author presents a new model emphasizing the role of population size in determining type of warfare, which in turn affects marital residence. However, the role of migration in determining marital residence is also considered.

This study focuses on cultural preferences for skin pigmentation. Findings indicate a general preference for lighter pigmentation in women. Cultural and biological theories are offered, and the authors suggest the skin-pigmentation preference is an instance of gene-culture coevolution. Areas for further research to explain the relationship of this finding with other features of society are suggested.

How and when did Bantu populations expand through sub-Saharan Africa? Using phylogeographic analyses, the authors test four main hypotheses which aim to explain the route that the Bantu took as well as the date of expansion. The results suggest that Bantu populations migrated through the Central African rainforest around 4,400 years ago.

This article reviews the theory that permanent animal groups have only one sex breed outside the group in order to balance genetic diversity and group relatedness. The author theorises that since males inherit valuable membership in patrilocal/lineal societies, they are expected to be more concerned about the probability of paternity than males in matrilocal/lineal societies. Moral rules, and specifically belief in moralizing gods, are expected to reflect this difference. In other words, moralizing gods are used to restrict the sexual activity of women.

This paper suggests that previously matrilocal and matrilineal societies which are subject to a high mortality rate when they switch to fighting internally will develop avunculocal residence. The cross-cultural data presented supports the hypothesis.

This article presents a variety of findings regarding the nature and characteristics of humor and humorists, cross-culturally. It is a thorough preliminary study on the topic with a review of other work on humor and and outline of areas to be addressed by future research.

This paper examines the behavior between close kin and affines of the opposite sex. The authors "point to certain differences between continental areas that are related to specific social factors, including the structure of descent groups and the nature of marriage arrangements."

Humans, just like other mammals, tend to allow greater sexual freedom for men rather than women. Furthermore, females are burdened with the majority of parenting. Do parenting costs limit sexual unrestrictedness to a different degree for males and females? The authors find that across 48 cultures, as women’s parenting costs decreased through improved physiological and economic conditions, women’s sexual unrestrictedness increased.