Lab Meeting

This week, lab member Kevin Hong will present his work from a summer in the field with the Mosuo of southwestern China.

Resource allocation and imitation in a Chinese matrilineal society

The mosuo population in southwestern China has been intensively studied by anthropologists for its unique marriage system. Here I present a study exploring resource allocation and imitation as a function of ethnic background and grade level. Briefly, matrilineal mosuo individuals allocate less resource to fathers but did not differ in their imitation pattern. I will also touch upon the potential fitness consequences and different approaches to understand this behavioral plasticity.