Explaining marriage patterns in a globally representative sample through socio-ecology and population history: A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using a new supertree of human cultures

Publication date: Available online 15 November 2018Source: Evolution and Human BehaviorAuthor(s): Riana Minocher, Pavel Duda, Adrian V. JaeggiAbstractComparative analyses have sought to explain variation in human marriage patterns, often using predictions derived from sexual selection theory. However, most previous studies did not control for non-independence of populations due to shared ancestry. Here we leverage a phylogenetic supertree of human populations that includes all 186 populations in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), a globally representative and widely-used sample of human populations. This represents the most comprehensive human phylogeny to date, and allows us not only to control for non-independence, but also to quantify the role of population history in explaining behavioral variation, in addition to current socio-ecological conditions. We use multiple imputation to overcome missing data problems and build a comprehensive Bayesian phylogenetic model of marriage patterns with two correlated response variables and eleven minimally collinear predictors capturing various socio-ecological conditions. We show that ignoring phylogeny could lead to both false positives and false negatives, and that the phylogeny explained about twice as much variance as all the predictors combined. Pathogen stress and assault frequency emerged as the predictors most strongly associated with polygyny, which had been considered evidence for female choice of good genes and male...

Source: Evolution and Human Behavior - November 16, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research