Based on prior findings, the present study tests the theory that subsistence type, specifically agricultural level, influences descent type, conjugal formation, and marriage type. All three of the latter variables are predicted to be antecedents of ancestor worship. The author claims support for the theory.

This paper tests "theories which suggest that there are causal-functional relationships between the dependent variables peacemaking and peace stability on the one hand and certain independent variables, such as political complexity, warrior class, warfare objectives, cultural homology and intersocietal ties, on the other hand." Significant relationships were found between the last three independent variables.

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 takes an economic approach in examining the practice of human sacrifice as it relates to notions of the economic value of human life. Codes are included.

This article suggests that the relationship of monogamy and independent families to societal complexity is best represented by a curvilinear rather than a linear model. Though the variance explained in this relationship is low, it is somewhat increased when variables are scored as dummy variables rather than ordinal.

This article posits a theory of social evolution based on agriculture. The author suggests that a society’s energy source, type of tool materials, and systems of agriculture constitute a variable cluster, and that they are associated with societal scale, economic differentiation, and mode of political integration. Empirical analysis supports this neoevolutionary theory of agriculture.

This book investigates possession and possession-trance. While the author focuses on a case study of Haiti, there are also a handful of cross cultural tests performed. Results suggest that societal complexity is associated with belief in possession-trance, rather than possession alone.

This article draws on psychoanalytic theory and a previous study by Whiting (1964) to test the relationship between parent-child sleeping arrangements, particularly the implied social distance of fathers, and the presence of circumcision for males. Circumcision is assumed to be a social correction for mother-oriented personality in sons.

In this article, the authors explore cultural variables that they propose contribute to the maintenance of peace in non-warring societies. These variables are compared in 16 peaceful systems (as coded by the authors from anthropological and historical data) and in 30 warring societies taken from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). Findings associate more peaceful cultures with peace systems, and non-peaceful cultures with warring societies.

This article seeks to examine the distribution and frequency of bride-theft. Tylor's (1889) findings between various forms of marriage by capture and certain other social instituions are confirmed.