Neighbours and relatives: accounting for spatial distribution when testing causal hypotheses in cultural evolution

Area of Science:

• Cultural Evolution
• Anthropology
• Sociology

Background:

• Cross-cultural correlations are widely used to test hypotheses about cultural evolution.
• Associations between environmental factors and cultural traits are often interpreted as causal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate how geographic proximity influences cross-cultural correlations.
• To distinguish genuine causal links from spurious associations due to shared cultural heritage.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing cross-cultural correlation studies.
• Examination of how geographic proximity can create indirect associations.
• Development of strategies to differentiate incidental from causal relationships.

Main Results:

• Many significant cross-cultural correlations can be explained by the similarity between neighboring cultures.
• Geographic proximity can lead to misinterpretations of direct causal links between environment and culture.

Conclusions:

• The influence of cultural proximity must be considered when interpreting cross-cultural correlations.
• Methodological advancements are needed to accurately identify causal relationships in cultural evolution studies.