title: Pathogen prevalence, group bias, and collectivism in the standard cross-cultural sample.
abstract: It has been argued that people in areas with high pathogen loads will be more likely to avoid outsiders, to be biased in favor of in-groups, and to hold collectivist and conformist values. Cross-national studies have supported these predictions. In this paper we provide new pathogen codes for the 186 cultures of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and use them, together with existing pathogen and ethnographic data, to try to replicate these cross-national findings. In support of the theory, we found that cultures in high pathogen areas were more likely to socialize children toward collectivist values (obedience rather than self-reliance). There was some evidence that pathogens were associated with reduced adult dispersal. However, we found no evidence of an association between pathogens and our measures of group bias (in-group loyalty and xenophobia) or intergroup contact.
authors: Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. cashdan@anthro.utah.edu
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Cashdan
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Steele
mesh_terms: D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004194:Disease; D004813:Epidemiology; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012919:Social Behavior; D012925:Social Conformity
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