When are cross-group differences a product of a human behavioral immune system?

Hruschka, Daniel J.; Hackman, Joseph

doi:10.1037/ebs0000013

Cited by 32 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Just as the presence of disease triggers a physiological immune response, it might also trigger a psychological response that includes restricting interactions to members of one's own group and becoming xenophobic toward outsiders (Schaller & Park, 2011;but see Hackman & Hruschka, 2013;Hruschka & Hackman, 2014). A number of authors have started to interpret human cross-cultural variation, including religiosity, as a response to parasite prevalence (Fincher & Thornhill, 2008a, 2008bFincher, Thornhill, Murray, & Schaller, 2008;Murray, 2014;Murray, Trudeau, & Schaller, 2011;Schaller & Park, 2011).…”

Section: Parasite Stressmentioning

confidence: 97%

Limits of analogy: are religions metaphoric species, individuals, or organs?

Zeitlyn¹

2016

Religion, Brain & Behavior

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Studies of religious and other cultural groups tend to be particularistic or focus on one or more axes of variation. In this article we develop a more comprehensive approach to studying cultural diversity that emulates the study of biological diversity. We compare our cultural ecosystem approach with the axis approach, using the distinction between "tight" and "loose" cultures as an example. We show that while the axis approach is useful, the cultural ecosystem approach adds considerable value to the axis approach. We end by advocating the establishment of field sites for the study of religious and cultural diversity, comparable to biological field sites. ARTICLE HISTORYReligions and other cultural forms exist in almost endless variety, with old forms disappearing and new forms arising all the time. It is easy to use the word "evolution" to describe these changes, but past efforts to develop a comprehensive theory of cultural evolution did not become widely accepted and in retrospect can be seen to suffer from misconceptions that do not follow from evolutionary theory (such as cultural evolution as a linear progression from "savagery" to "civilization"; see Carniero, 2003 for a review). More recent research on human cultural evolution promises to succeed where past efforts have failed and enable a more rigorous comparison between religious diversity, cultural diversity, and biological diversity. A useful overview based on a recent conference is provided by Richerson and Christiensen (2013) in addition to other references cited below.Studies of religious and cultural diversity that are not based on evolution tend to be particularistic, reflecting detailed scholarship on single systems but lacking a common methodology or broader theoretical framework. When attempts at integration are made, they often take the form of identifying axes of variation, such as between strict vs. lax churches (Iannacconeeven gradients in the incidence of diseases and parasites (Fincher & Thornhill, 2012). Statistical methods such as factor analysis are sometimes employed to identify multiple axes of variation (Hofstede, 1980). These attempts at integration are more synthetic than particularistic approaches but the choice of axes (other than by factor analysis) tends to be haphazard, isolated literatures grow around the study of each axis, and different axes are seldom systematically related to each other.In this article, we will first summarize the current status of cultural evolutionary theory and evolutionary religious studies, both of which have become centered on group-level functional organization. Second, we will outline the cultural ecosystem approach to the study of religious and cultural diversity, modeled on the study of biological diversity. Third, we will discuss the axis-of-variation approach (hereafter called the axis approach), focusing on the distinction between "tight" and "loose" cultures as an extended example. We have chosen the tight/loose axis as an exemplar because it has been used mostly to study variation in trad...

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Section: Parasite Stressmentioning

confidence: 97%

Limits of analogy: are religions metaphoric species, individuals, or organs?

Zeitlyn¹

2016

Religion, Brain & Behavior

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“…When the red flags indicate misaggregation, statistically controlling for the confounder variable (e.g., by including %Black as a predictor) might not solve the problem (e.g., due to multicollinearity). Stratified analyses may provide more valid inferences (Hruschka & Hackman, 2014). If lower-level data (e.g., stratified by race) are unavailable, these can sometimes be estimated from aggregated data (i.e., ecological inference) using methods developed in political science (King, 1997;Rosen, Jiang, King, & Tanner, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The confounding of Parasite Stress USA with %Black is argued to have resulted from African Americans having higher STD rates than non-Hispanic Whites and %Black varying substantially across states. Hruschka and Hackman (2014) provide suggestions for researchers who desire to use aggregated data but avoid the pitfalls, such as replicating with new data and at multiple levels, considering historical and social context, and testing alternative…”

Section: Parasite Stress Usamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To help researchers who use aggregated data avoid using invalid aggregated variables, we connect misaggregation to Simpson's Paradox, identify four red flags that can help researchers detect misaggregation, and show how cross-race misaggregation can occur. Our primary illustration uses Parasite Stress USA, a variable that was intended to be an index of pathogen prevalence for the fifty states of the USA (Fincher & Thornhill, 2012) that has been found to be invalid due to confounding with race (Hackman & Hruschka, 2013;Hruschka & Hackman, 2014). …”

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confidence: 99%

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Cross-race misaggregation: Its detection, a mathematical decomposition, and Simpson’s Paradox.

Koenig¹,

Leeuwen

Park³

2017

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

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This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via APA at http://psycnet.apa.org/psycarticles/2015-58333-001. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol -Explore Bristol Research General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms

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“…For this reason, the most inferentially compelling correlations are those that emerge not only in cross-national analyses, but also in analyses of small-scale societies studied by ethnographers [49,50]. It remains for future research to more fully determine which societal outcomes are, or are not, influenced by parasite risks [47].…”

Section: (A) Society-level Defences Against Infectious Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

The sociality–health–fitness nexus: synthesis, conclusions and future directions

Nunn

Craft

Gillespie

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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This theme issue has highlighted the links between sociality, health and fitness in a broad range of organisms, and with approaches that include field and captive studies of animals, comparative and meta-analyses, theoretical modelling and clinical and psychological studies of humans. In this concluding chapter, we synthesize the results of these diverse studies into some of the key concepts discussed in this issue, focusing on risks of infectious disease through social contact, the effects of competition in groups on susceptibility to disease, and the integration of sociality into research on life-history trade-offs. Interestingly, the studies in this issue both support pre-existing hypotheses, and in other ways challenge those hypotheses. We focus on unexpected results, including a lack of association between ectoparasites and fitness and weak results from a meta-analysis of the links between dominance rank and immune function, and place these results in a broader context. We also review relevant topics that were not covered fully in this theme issue, including self-medication and sickness behaviours, society-level defences against infectious disease, sexual selection, evolutionary medicine, implications for conservation biology and selective pressures on parasite traits. We conclude by identifying general open questions to stimulate and guide future research on the links between sociality, health and fitness.

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When are cross-group differences a product of a human behavioral immune system?

Cited by 32 publications

References 30 publications

Limits of analogy: are religions metaphoric species, individuals, or organs?

Limits of analogy: are religions metaphoric species, individuals, or organs?

Cross-race misaggregation: Its detection, a mathematical decomposition, and Simpson’s Paradox.

The sociality–health–fitness nexus: synthesis, conclusions and future directions

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