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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

Evert Van de Vliert
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The NetherlandsE.Van.de.Vliert@rug.nlhttp://www.rug.nl/staff/e.van.de.vliert/index Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, NO-5015 Bergen, Norway. T.Postmes@rug.nlhttp://www.rug.nl/staff/t.postmes/index
Tom Postmes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The NetherlandsE.Van.de.Vliert@rug.nlhttp://www.rug.nl/staff/e.van.de.vliert/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.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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