Cultural evolution of hinoeuma superstition controlling human mate choice: The role of half-believer

Journal of Theoretical Biology
Makoto HaraYoh Iwasa

Abstract

In this study, we used a cultural dynamic model to explain the persistence of the hinoeuma superstition in traditional Japan. Men with this superstition avoid marrying women born in a hinoeuma year (or hinoeuma-women). Parents avoided childbirth during the last hinoeuma year out of the concern that their daughter would have trouble finding a husband in the future, and this resulted in a large drop in the number of babies born in 1966. A previous theoretical analysis of the hinoeuma superstition considered two alternative cultural factors: believers and nonbelievers. In the present study, we considered a third cultural factor, the half-believer. A man that is a half-believer accepts a hinoeuma-woman as his wife, but parents that are half-believers avoid childbirth during hinoeuma years. With these three cultural factors, there are two possible outcomes for the population. In the first outcome, [1] non-believers become extinct, with the population consisting of believers and half-believers; some men refuse hinoeuma-women as their mate choice, and most parents attempt to avoid childbirth during hinoeuma years. In the second outcome, [2] believers become extinct, and the remaining population consists of non-believers and half-belie...Continue Reading

References

Feb 1, 1975·American Journal of Public Health·K Kaku, Y S Matsumoto
Apr 1, 1989·Theoretical Population Biology·K Aoki, M W Feldman
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