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

This paper presents empirical tests of two theories put forth to explain violence toward women. The first predicts that warfare promotes socialization for aggression and legitimizes violence toward women, while the second predicts that violence works as a way to control potential for female infidelity. An association is found between high male-to-female sex ratio and violence towards women, suggesting support for the second theory over the first, which is consistent with more narrowly-focused studies by Avakame (1999), Bose et al. (2013), and D'Alessio & Stolzenberg (2010).

Research sampled 143 societies from the Standard Cross Cultural Sample to test the relationship between honor culture, social rewards for warriors, and intergroup conflicts. Using mediation analysis based on multiple regression, and structural equation modeling, the research supported the theory that honor culture was positively associated with intergroup conflict, and that this relationship was mediated by social rewards for warriors.

This article suggests a general theory of conflict and violence that may help explain the conditions under which internal conflict co-occur or are differentiated.

This study explores several correlates of interpersonal violence. Multiple regression analysis suggests that socialization for aggression in boys in late childhood is the strongest predictor of higher rates of homicide and assault. Path analysis suggests that socialization for aggression is a consequence, not a cause, of war.

Using a sample of 80 countries and political regions, the present study examines the effect parasite stress has on people's trust towards ingroup and outgroup members. The findings do not offer support of there being a concave relationship between parasite stress and ingroup member trust. The results do indicate that there is a U-correlation between trusting outgroup members and parasite stress.

Using a sample of 145 African societies, the authors seek to examine the relationship between segmentary lineage organization and conflict. Presented is evidence supporting the claim that segmentary lineage societies are more prone to conflict and to conflicts larger in scale and duration. The authors aim to contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of conflict, and additionally address the applicability of the present study beyond Africa.

In this article, the authors seek to understand dog-human coevolution by considering predictors of different aspects of dog-human relationships across cultures. In order to measure dog-human relationships, the researchers created three indexes: dogs' utility for humans (DUH), humans' utility for dogs (HUD), and the personhood of dogs (PD). Each of these indexes were tested against various pre-coded variables that were empirically and theoretically relevant to this subject.

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 tests various explainations for corporal punishment of children, including social complexity, a societal culture of violence, and whether help in child rearing is available. Analysis suggests that corporal punishment may be a parent's way to prepare children for societal power inequality.