Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - April 2012 - Volume 35, Issue 02  

Open Peer Commentary

In-group loyalty or out-group avoidance? Isolating the links between pathogens and in-group assortative sociality

Elizabeth Cashdana1

a1 Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0060. ecashdan@gmail.com http://www.anthro.utah.edu/faculty/elizabeth-cashdan.html

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.

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