The Evil Eye

The belief is not universal. John M. Roberts's 1976 cross-cultural survey found it in only 67 of 186 sampled cultures, about 36 percent, and Alan Dundes, drawing on that survey, argued that the evil eye is essentially an Indo-European and Semitic belief rather than a human constant.

John M. Roberts, 'Belief in the Evil Eye in World Perspective', in Clarence Maloney (ed.), The Evil Eye (1976), pp. 223–278; Alan Dundes, 'Wet and Dry, the Evil Eye: An Essay in Indo-European and Semitic Worldview' (1980), in The Evil Eye: A Folklore Casebook (1981)