J. Patrick Gray

Comment on Gaulin and Schlegel (1980)

Abstract In this comment we examine the data Gaulin and Schlegel [ Ethology and Sociobiology 1:301–309 (1980)] used to test a sociobiological hypothesis relating male parental certainty with investment practices. We conclude that methodological flaws invalidate the results of their tests.

Subsistence practices and human sexual dimorphism of stature

Hypotheses recently advanced by Brace & Ryan (1980) and Frayer (1980) suggest links between changes in human sexual dimorphism and changes in technology and subsistence practices. In this paper we test these hypotheses using a sample of extant human groups. Results indicate that extant agriculturalists exhibit a greater degree of sexual dimorphism in stature than extant hunter-gatherers. Moreover, the data analysed in this paper do not indicate that a more equal division of labor is associated with a decrease in human height sexual dimorphism.

Human female sexual cycles and the concealment of ovulation problem

Recent applications of the principles of evolutionary biology to the problem of the origins of Homo sapiens have resulted in increased interest in the evolution of human sexual behavior. Sociobiologists have generally rejected the social bonding explanations of human sexual behavior widely accepted a few years ago without presenting a generally accepted alternative explanation. In this review we summarize seven recent hypotheses advanced to account for an aspect of human female sexual behavior, the concealment of ovulation. We also discuss implications of research on the distribution of human female activity throughout the menstrual cycle for these seven hypotheses.

A note on brother inheritance

Abstract This comment examines Hartungs recent suggestion that passing inheritance to a mans brother may be a means of avoiding the consequences of low paternity confidence in nonmatrilineal societies.

Is the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample Biased? A Simulation Study

The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) is one of Murdocks most important contributions to anthropology. Otterbein has ar gued that groups studied by ethnographers with personal ties to Murdock and societies congruent with Murdocks theories of social organization are overrepresented in the sample. The SCCS has become the most widely used sample in holocultural research and the presence of these biases would cast doubt on the research conducted with it. I selected a new standard sample from the Ethnographic Atlas randomly a thousand times to test the possibil ity that Murdock and Whites selection of societies was biased and to identify the variables the bias affected. Results indicate that the only significant bias in the standard sample is one toward better described societies.

Latitude and intersocietal variation of human sexual dimorphism of stature

In a recent article Alexander et al.(1979) argue that intersocietal variation in human sexual dimorphism of stature can be explained by differing degrees of male- male competition for mates found in different types of societal marriage systems. In this paper we reexamine their data and suggest that their results may be more simply explained by reference to the latitude of the societies in their sample. Our investigation indicates that latitude has a significant influence on the degree of societal sexual dimorphism of stature. Peoples of the arctic region and the short peoples of the equatorial regions are less dimorphic in stature than midlatitude peoples. Thus, we conclude that the sociobiological hypothesis presented by Alexander et al.cannot alone explain the intersocietal variation in sexual dimorphism of stature and that environmental factors must be taken into account in the explanation of such variation.

Cross-Cultural Factors Associated with Sexual Foreplay

Summary With cross-cultural ethnographic data on 39 societies, this paper researches the influence of the four variables of the Whiting Complex (postpartum sex taboo, polygyny, severe male intiation rites, and infant sleeping arrangements) on whether a society views foreplay as an expected component of adult sexual behavior. Only the infant sleeping arrangement variable was found to be correlated with the presence of foreplay. It is suggested that a learning perspective, rather than Whitings neo-Freudian approach, best explains the results of the investigation.

Parental certainty, subsistence and inheritance revisited

In a recent article Gaulin argues that human males did not usually invest in the offspring of their spouses until the Neolithic revolution created conditions favoring higher degrees of male parental certainty. He tests this conjecture by using coded cross-cultural data on extant human groups. This paper examines the methodology of Gaulins tests and argues that his misuse of the holocultural data invalidates the results he obtained and leaves his conjectures with no support.

Growing yams and men: an interpretation of Kimam male ritualized homosexual behavior.

This paper explores the meaning of Kimam (Irian Jaya) male ritualized homosexual behavior by placing the behavior within a broad cultural context. It demonstrates that males claim to foster the growth of yams and to make men from boys by manipulating the processes of fertilization. One aspect of this manipulation involves the transfer of sperm from older males to boys. Exploration of Kimam ideas of death and burial rituals suggests that members of one village sector see their fertility as under attack by males of the opposite sector. At the conclusion of mortuary ceremonies, the two sectors engage in competitive feasts in which the successful control of fertility is symbolized by the presentation of finished products of male vitality: yams and children, especially boys. The analysis indicates that an understanding of homosexual behavior requires that attention not be restricted to the sexual behavior itself, but rather include various domains of meaning associated with it.

Regional Patterning in Illness Theories: Analyses With Different Types of Optimal Scaling

Optimal scaling techniques provide holocultural researchers with interesting ways to explore relationships in multivariate data. Carmella Moores analysis of regional patterning in Murdocks theories of illness data was one of the first uses of these techniques with cross-cultural data. This article shows the flexibility of optimal scaling approaches to holocultural data. It also illustrates how different ways of conceptualizing and transforming data may affect the conclusions drawn from these techniques. The author uses dual scaling techniques to produce two alternatives to Moores analysis. The first treats Murdocks codes as successive categories data and uses a clustering technique to search for regional groupings. The second identifies regional patterning with forced classification. Both techniques identify the Circum-Mediterranean region as possessing a unique configuration of illness theories and highlight a distinction between theories of witchcraft and sorcery.