This book chapter tests new and pre-existing theories (Horton, Field, Bacon et al.) for the cause of variation in drinking across cultures. Folktale content is used to test psychological variables more directly than has been done previously. Folktale content is analyzed programmatically with an acknowledged error level of up to one-third. Results lend support to Field's 1962 theory that loose social organization facilitates drinking.

This study tests a broad "risk response" hypothesis: environmental risk can reduce parents' involvement and care which, through its effects on children's behavioral strategies later in life, ultimately produces a larger cultural model favoring risky behavior. Examinations of extramarital sex, aggression, theft, and witchcraft support this hypothesis, leading the authors to suggest that child development is the underpinning of cultural adaptation in the face of environmental change.

This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.

The author hypothesizes that physical violence is strongly related to the deprivation of physical pleasure. The author tests this hypothesis by looking at the relationship between physical affection towards infants, as well as attitudes towards premarital sex, and several variables related to violence. Results support the hypothesis.

This study investigates the strategic mode of competition in both games of strategy and folk talkes. Various significant relationships between games of strategy, folktales, social complexity, and child rearing variables are observed.

Textor summarizes cross-cultural male initiation rites findings pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.

Textor summarizes cross-cultural findings on extramarital sexual relations pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.

Thi study tests a hypothesis on the relationship between frequency of warfare and sociocultural development.

The author presents a comprehensive study on the prevalence, presentation, and motivation of the "ultimate coercive sanction": capital punishment, or the "death penalty." He begins by examining capital punishment across all 53 cultures for which data was present in the Probability Sample Files, and finds that capital punishment is overwhelmingly present. After discerning some general trends, the author examines how capital punishment presents itself across different kinds of political systems, and uses the results to voice support for various theories on why the capital punishment is practiced. The study concludes by stating that the capital punishment may be something that human society may never be truly rid of, but greater societal stability may be able to reduce its prevalence.

This study examines aggression in folktales in relation to child socialization variables. The author suggests that punishment for aggression and aggression anxiety are related to how aggression is portrayed in folktales. Hypotheses are supported.