In this study, the author explores different pathways to the emergence of clothing outside of thermoregulation, with a focus on the use of clothing for disguise or concealment. He finds disguises in 8 out of 10 sampled societies, proposing that attempts at disguise or concealment is one possible pathway to the cultural evolution of clothing. He also finds clothing used for modesty and body armor purposes.

Using a cross-cultural sample of 91 societies, this paper draws on ecological theory to test if unpredictable environments will favor subsistence diversification. The general hypothesis is that societies with high climate unpredictability and resource stress would exhibit more subsistence diversity than societies in more stable climates. The authors examined four environmental and resource stress variables while controlling for temperature variance, subsistence activity, and phylogeny. Support was found for 2 of the 4 variables--chronic scarcity and environmental instability. In the discussion they suggest that more commonly observed events (e.g. annual hunger and climate unpredictability) may give people more motivation to change subsistence than rarer events (e.g. natural hazards and famine).

The authors of this study explore the relationship between climate variability and beliefs that high gods are associated with the weather. As predicted, they find significant correlations between these beliefs and dry climates. They then evaluate how these findings contribute to their previous understanding of resource stress and its association to beliefs in high gods.

Using a sample of 313 societies classified within 24 language phyla, authors put forward a statistical model based on climate data [specifically focused on the 10°C (50°F) winter temperature isotherm] to explain why dispersion of preindustrial language phyla is remarkably homogeneous even despite heterogeneous geographical dispersion of sampled preindustrial cultural groups. They suggest that temperature has been a barrier to migration.

This study examines the relationship between personality traits and subsistence type in mixed farming and pastoralists societies. Findings suggest that differences in child socialization do not significantly predict personality differences in mixed farming and pastoralist societies as much as one would expect. Adult experiences should be considered as better predictors of personality traits.

In this article, the authors seek to test the theory that the veiling of women is a form of male mate guarding strategy, especially in harsh environments (specifically those with poor health and high mortality). They test this hypothesis using survey data drawn from 25 majority Muslim countries. This theory found support in the results of their statistical tests. In addition to testing the hypotheses articulated in the paper (as noted above), they also ran correlations between income level, importance of religion, and a countries sex ratio and views on the importance of veiling.

This article examines resource problems and warfare in a sample of societies from eastern Africa. The frequency and predictability of resource problems are examined, as are two other dimensions of warfare: resource-taking and commission of atrocities. Differences between state and nonstate societies, as well as pacified and non-pacified societies, are also examined and shown to affect associations between resource and warfare variables.

This chapter examines the role of male and female ornamentation. Several hypotheses concerning mating systems and ornamentation are empirically tested; several are supported.

This study tests the association between pathogen risk and degree of polygyny and sexual advertisement. Results show that the greater the risk of serious pathogens, the greater the degree of polygyny. The correlation between pathogen risk and sexual signals is only marginally significant. An association between mate choice and resource control is also examined.

This article builds on previous cross-country and cross-state research into Tightness-Looseness (TL) theory, which proposes relationships between the incidence of ecological threat and cultural tightness, as well as tightness’ downstream effects on belief in a moralizing high god, inter-group contact and authoritarian leadership. To evaluate the generalizability of TL theory beyond complex cultures, the authors test these relationships among 86 nonindustrial societies from the ethnographic record. A structural equation model is presented of the results for nonindustrial societies; it is generally in accord with previous findings from more complex societies. Because the nonindustrial sample is more variable, they also look at relationships between societal complexity and kinship heterogeneity, aspects that vary in nonindustrial societies.