Identity fusion, outgroup relations, and sacrifice: A cross-cultural test

Identity fusion theory has become a popular psychological explanation of costly self-sacrifice. It posits that while maintaining one's own individual identity, a deep affinity with one's group can contribute to sacrifice for that group. We test this and related hypotheses using a behavioral economic experiment designed to detect biased, self-interested favoritism among eight different populations ranging from foragers and horticulturalists to the fully market-integrated. We find that while individuals favor themselves on average, those with higher ingroup fusion sacrifice more money to other members of their ingroup who are unable to reciprocate. We also find that positive outgroup relations has a similar effect. Additionally, we assess a recently-posited interaction between ingroup and outgroup relations and show no consistent effect at the individual or sub-sample levels

Church attendance and alloparenting: an analysis of fertility, social support and child development among English mothers

Many aspects of religious rituals suggest they provide adaptive benefits. Studies across societies consistently find that investments in ritual behaviour return high levels of cooperation. Another line of research finds that alloparental support to mothers increases maternal fertility and improves child outcomes. Although plausible, whether religious cooperation extends to alloparenting and/or affects child development remains unclear. Using 10 years of data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we test the predictions that church attendance is positively associated with social support and fertility (n = 8207 to n = 8209), and that social support is positively associated with fertility and child development (n = 1766 to n = 6561). Results show that: (i) relative to not attending, church attendance is positively related to a woman's social network support and aid from co-religionists, (ii) aid from co-religionists is associated with increased family size, while (iii) fertility declines with extra-religious social network support. Moreover, while extra-religious social network support decreased over time, co-religionist aid remained constant. These findings suggest that religious and secular networks differ in their longevity and have divergent influences on a woman's fertility. We find some suggestive evidence that support to mothers and aid from co-religionists is positively associated with a child's cognitive ability at later stages of development. Findings provide mixed support for the premise that ritual, such as church attendance, is part of a strategy that returns high levels of support, fertility and improved child outcomes. Identifying the diversity and scope of cooperative breeding strategies across global religions presents an intriguing new horizon in the evolutionary study of religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.1. Introduction (a) Cooperative support to mothers: from foragers to modern nation states 2. Methods (a) Sample and participants (b) Variables and data processing 3. Results (a) Is frequency of maternal church attendance positively associated with a mother's social network support, and/or aid from co-religionists? (b) Is the frequency of maternal church attendance positively associated with fertility? (c) Is a mother's social network support, and/or aid from co-religionists positively related to her fertility? (d) Is a mother's social network support and/or aid from co-religionists positively associated with child physiological and cognitive development? 4. Discussion (a) Limitations of the present study 5. Conclusio

Cross-cultural dataset for the evolution of religion and morality project

A considerable body of research cross-culturally examines the evolution of religious traditions, beliefs and behaviors. The bulk of this research, however, draws from coded qualitative ethnographies rather than from standardized methods specifically designed to measure religious beliefs and behaviors. Psychological data sets that examine religious thought and behavior in controlled conditions tend to be disproportionately sampled from student populations. Some cross-national databases employ standardized methods at the individual level, but are primarily focused on fully market integrated, state-level societies. The Evolution of Religion and Morality Project sought to generate a data set that systematically probed individual level measures sampling across a wider range of human populations. The set includes data from behavioral economic experiments and detailed surveys of demographics, religious beliefs and practices, material security, and intergroup perceptions. This paper describes the methods and variables, briefly introduces the sites and sampling techniques, notes inconsistencies across sites, and provides some basic reporting for the data set

The Diffusion of Humans and Cultures in the Course of the Spread of Farming

The most profound change in the relationship between humans and their environment was the introduction of agriculture and pastoralism. [....] For an understanding of the expansion process, it appears appropriate to apply a diffusive model. Broadly, these numerical modeling approaches can be catego- rized in correlative, continuous and discrete. Common to all approaches is the comparison to collections of radiocarbon data that show the apparent wave of advance of the transition to farming. However, these data sets differ in entry density and data quality. Often they disregard local and regional specifics and research gaps, or dating uncertainties. Thus, most of these data bases may only be used on a very general, broad scale. One of the pitfalls of using irregularly spaced or irregularly documented radiocarbon data becomes evident from the map generated by Fort (this volume, Chapter 16): while the general east-west and south-north trends become evident, some areas appear as having undergone anomalously early transitions to farming. This may be due to faulty entries into the data base or regional problems with radiocarbon dating, if not unnoticed or undocumented laboratory mistakes.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Diffusive Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society, edited by Armin Bunde, J\"urgen Caro, J\"org K\"arger, Gero Vogl, Chapter 1

Material insecurity predicts greater commitment to moralistic and less commitment to local deities: a cross-cultural investigation

The existential security hypothesis predicts that in the absence of more successful secular institutions, people will be attracted to religion when they are materially insecure. Most assessments, however, employ data sampled at a state-level with a focus on world religions. Using individual-level data collected in societies of varied community sizes with diverse religious traditions including animism, shamanism, polytheism, and monotheism, we conducted a systematic cross-cultural test (N = 1820; 14 societies) of the relationship between material insecurity (indexed by food insecurity) and religious commitment (indexed by both beliefs and practices). Moreover, we examined the relationship between material security and individuals’ commitment to two types of deities (moralistic and local), thus providing the first simultaneous test of the existential security hypothesis across co-existing traditions. Our results indicate that while material insecurity is associated with greater commitment to moralistic deities, it predicts less commitment to local deity traditions

Navigating cross-cultural research: methodological and ethical considerations

Copyright © 2020 The Authors. The intensifying pace of research based on cross-cultural studies in the social sciences necessitates a discussion of the unique challenges of multi-sited research. Given an increasing demand for social scientists to expand their data collection beyond WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) populations, there is an urgent need for transdisciplinary conversations on the logistical, scientific and ethical considerations inherent to this type of scholarship. As a group of social scientists engaged in cross-cultural research in psychology and anthropology, we hope to guide prospective cross-cultural researchers through some of the complex scientific and ethical challenges involved in such work: (a) study site selection, (b) community involvement and (c) culturally appropriate research methods. We aim to shed light on some of the difficult ethical quandaries of this type of research. Our recommendation emphasizes a community-centred approach, in which the desires of the community regarding research approach and methodology, community involvement, results communication and distribution, and data sharing are held in the highest regard by the researchers. We argue that such considerations are central to scientific rigour and the foundation of the study of human behaviour.Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; French National Research Agency under the Investments for the Future (Investissements d'Avenir) programme (ANR-17-EURE-0010)

Material insecurity predicts greater commitment to moralistic and less commitment to local deities: a cross-cultural investigation

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006287.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). The existential security hypothesis predicts that in the absence of more successful secular institutions, people will be attracted to religion when they are materially insecure. Most assessments, however, employ data sampled at a state-level with a focus on world religions. Using individual-level data collected in societies of varied community sizes with diverse religious traditions including animism, shamanism, polytheism, and monotheism, we conducted a systematic cross-cultural test (N = 1820; 14 societies) of the relationship between material insecurity (indexed by food insecurity) and religious commitment (indexed by both beliefs and practices). Moreover, we examined the relationship between material security and individuals’ commitment to two types of deities (moralistic and local), thus providing the first simultaneous test of the existential security hypothesis across co-existing traditions. Our results indicate that while material insecurity is associated with greater commitment to moralistic deities, it predicts less commitment to local deity traditions