Elsevier

Ethology and Sociobiology

Volume 16, Issue 2, March 1995, Pages 155-172
Ethology and Sociobiology

Original article
Symbolic or not-so-symbolic wounds: The behavioral ecology of human scarification

https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(94)00075-I Get rights and content

Abstract

Scarification, the deliberate and often painful modification of the body, is analyzed from the perspective of four competing hypotheses: (1) a rite of passage, (2) a hardening/trauma procedure, (3) a nonadaptive sexually selected character, or (4) an adaptive pathogen-driven sexually selected character. These four hypotheses are tested using the Standard Cross Cultural Sample (SCCS). Hypothesis 1 is supported in the worldwide sample as well as two of the geographic subsamples.

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