ArticlePloS one2013
Linguistic diversity and traffic accidents: lessons from statistical studies of cultural traits.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Lessons for Theory from Scientific Domains Where Evidence is Sparse or Indirect.Computational brain & behavior · 2024Article
- Editorial: The adaptive value of languages: non-linguistic causes of language diversity, volume II.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
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- Investigating environmental effects on phonology using diachronic models.Evolutionary human sciences · 2024Article
- Languages with more speakers tend to be harder to (machine-)learn.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Cross-national analyses require additional controls to account for the non-independence of nations.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A large quantitative analysis of written language challenges the idea that all languages are equally complex.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Phylogenetic insight into the origin of tones.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Language endangerment: Using analytical methods from conservation biology to illuminate loss of linguistic diversity.Cambridge prisms. Extinction · 2023Review
- Neighbours and relatives: accounting for spatial distribution when testing causal hypotheses in cultural evolution.Evolutionary human sciences · 2023Article
- Kinbank: A global database of kinship terminology.PloS one · 2023Article
- Imperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidence.PloS one · 2022Article
- There is little evidence that spicy food in hot countries is an adaptation to reducing infection risk.Nature human behaviour · 2021Article
- Speech adapts to differences in dentition within and across populations.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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- Parasites and politics: why cross-cultural studies must control for relatedness, proximity and covariation.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Population Size and the Rate of Language Evolution: A Test Across Indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu Languages.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- Languages in Drier Climates Use Fewer Vowels.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
The recent proliferation of digital databases of cultural and linguistic data, together with new statistical techniques becoming available has lead to a rise in so-called nomothetic studies [1]-[8]. These seek relationships between demographic variables and cultural traits from large, cross-cultural datasets. The insights from these studies are important for understanding how cultural traits evolve. While these studies are fascinating and are good at generating testable hypotheses, they may underestimate the probability of finding spurious correlations between cultural traits. Here we show that this kind of approach can find links between such unlikely cultural traits as traffic accidents, levels of extra-martial sex, political collectivism and linguistic diversity. This suggests that spurious correlations, due to historical descent, geographic diffusion or increased noise-to-signal ratios in large datasets, are much more likely than some studies admit. We suggest some criteria for the evaluation of nomothetic studies and some practical solutions to the problems. Since some of these studies are receiving media attention without a widespread understanding of the complexities of the issue, there is a risk that poorly controlled studies could affect policy. We hope to contribute towards a general skepticism for correlational studies by demonstrating the ease of finding apparently rigorous correlations between cultural traits. Despite this, we see well-controlled nomothetic studies as useful tools for the development of theories.
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