In a fascinating conversation, Joseph Henrich, a Harvard professor specializing in cultural evolution, unveils the biases introduced by focusing on WEIRD populations in psychological research. He proposes a bold theory linking cultural practices, such as the Catholic Church's stance on kinship, to the emergence of modern Western psychology. The dialogue delves into empathy, moral perspectives across cultures, and how shifts in family structures reflect broader societal changes. Henrich challenges us to rethink our understanding of identity and human behavior through diverse cultural lenses.
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insights INSIGHT
WEIRD Participants
Most psychology studies use WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) participants.
WEIRD people often represent extreme outliers, not the norm, in psychological traits.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Ultimatum Game
The ultimatum game shows how fairness perceptions vary across cultures.
WEIRD people are more likely to reject unfair offers, even if it means getting nothing.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Chimpanzee Selfishness
Chimpanzees, unlike humans, show indifference to others' gains in experiments.
They consistently prioritize self-interest, acting like the "ideal economic actor."
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This book explores the parallel quests of Albert Einstein and Henri Poincaré to understand time and space, culminating in the revolutionary science of relativity. It delves into the practical challenges of synchronizing clocks and mapping time zones in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which influenced their theoretical breakthroughs. By examining the technological and scientific context of their work, Galison provides a nuanced understanding of how relativity emerged.
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Jeffrey West
The novel centers on two Chinese American siblings on the lam after their sometimes abusive father dies, leaving them to survive in a dreamscape that blends historical and mythological elements. The story is narrated by a sister whose gender is more fluid and includes elements of ghost narratives, gold, and tigers. Zhang's work challenges the traditional white-centered narratives of the American West, incorporating elements of her own cultural background and childhood experiences.
The Secret of Our Success
Jonathan Yen
Joseph Henrich
In 'The Secret of Our Success', Joseph Henrich presents a provocative alternative to the standard narrative about human evolution. He argues that the key to human success is not our individual intelligence, but our ability to form collective brains that store and transmit vast amounts of cultural knowledge. Henrich draws on findings from anthropology, linguistics, behavioral economics, psychology, and evolutionary biology to demonstrate how culture and genes interact in a unique evolutionary process that drives human innovation and progress. The book challenges traditional views of evolution and highlights the importance of social and cultural factors in shaping human behavior and achievements.
Guns, germs, and steel
The Fates of Human Societies
Fabián Chueca
Jared DIAMOND
(MEI )DAI MENG DE (Diamond J. ) XIE YAN GUANG YI
In this book, Jared Diamond explains why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others. He argues that differences in societal development arise primarily from geographical causes. The book details how agricultural societies developed immunities to deadly diseases, advanced in technology, and formed centralized political structures, ultimately leading to the conquest of other societies. Diamond also discusses the impact of germs, domesticated animals, and environmental factors on human history[2][4][5].
The WEIRDest People in the World
Joseph Patrick Henrich
Korey Jackson
Joseph Henrich
In this book, Joseph Henrich explores how Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations developed their unique psychological profiles. He argues that changes in family structures, marriage, and religion, particularly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church, led to the emergence of WEIRD psychology. This psychology is characterized by individualism, self-obsession, control-orientation, nonconformity, and analytical thinking, which contrast with the more group-focused and shame-driven cultures of non-Western societies. Henrich uses research from anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explain how these psychological differences contributed to the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe[1][4][5].
We all know stereotypes about people from different countries; but we also recognize that there really are broad cultural differences between people who grow up in different societies. This raises a challenge when most psychological research is performed on a narrow and unrepresentative slice of the world’s population — a subset that has accurately been labeled as WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic). Joseph Henrich has argued that focusing on this group has led to systematic biases in how we think about human psychology. In his new book, he proposes a surprising theory for how WEIRD people got that way, based on the Church insisting on the elimination of marriage to relatives. It’s an audacious idea that nudges us to rethink how the WEIRD world came to be.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 
