Behavioral and Brain Sciences

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

Open Peer Commentary

Climato-economic livability predicts societal collectivism and political autocracy better than parasitic stress does

Evert Van de Vlierta1a2 and Tom Postmesa1

a1 Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands E.Van.de.Vliert@rug.nl http://www.rug.nl/staff/e.van.de.vliert/index

a2 Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, NO-5015 Bergen, Norway. T.Postmes@rug.nl http://www.rug.nl/staff/t.postmes/index

Abstract

A 121-nation study of societal collectivism and a 174-nation study of political autocracy show that parasitic stress does not account for any variation in these components of culture once the interactive impacts of climatic demands and income resources have been accounted for. Climato-economic livability is a viable rival explanation for the reported effects of parasitic stress on culture.

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