title: In-group loyalty or out-group avoidance? Isolating the links between pathogens and in-group assortative sociality.
abstract: The target article gives two explanations for the correlation between pathogens, family ties, and religiosity: one highlights the benefits of xenophobic attitudes for reducing pathogen exposure, the other highlights the benefits of ethnic loyalty for mitigating the costs when a person falls ill. Preliminary data from traditional societies provide some support for the former explanation but not the latter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0060, USA. ecashdan@gmail.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cashdan
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D006801:Humans; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological