markm reviewed The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich
Review of 'The WEIRDest People in the World' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Henrich’s premise is that people in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies have undergone cultural evolution so that they are psychologically unusual. We are individualistic, self-obsessed, and analytical. We tend to be trusting of strangers and we tend to rely on impartial rules of law. We may feel guilty, but we are less likely to feel shame. In these and other cultural features, we are different from people who live in non-Weird societies. Using a step-by-step explanation of the contributing aspects of his theory, involving a tsunami of linear regression charts, Henrich leads us through the findings that support his idea. Much of it seems to stem from the peculiar Marriage and Family Plan of the Catholic church that Henrich says is the reason that we are likely to be monogamous and not marry our cousins, unlike some non-Weird peoples. The argument is impressive in the amount of data …
Henrich’s premise is that people in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies have undergone cultural evolution so that they are psychologically unusual. We are individualistic, self-obsessed, and analytical. We tend to be trusting of strangers and we tend to rely on impartial rules of law. We may feel guilty, but we are less likely to feel shame. In these and other cultural features, we are different from people who live in non-Weird societies. Using a step-by-step explanation of the contributing aspects of his theory, involving a tsunami of linear regression charts, Henrich leads us through the findings that support his idea. Much of it seems to stem from the peculiar Marriage and Family Plan of the Catholic church that Henrich says is the reason that we are likely to be monogamous and not marry our cousins, unlike some non-Weird peoples. The argument is impressive in the amount of data presented and in its overall novelty.
Controlled studies are often not possible in the social sciences, but there are so many correlation coefficients here that it was difficult to keep from thinking that correlation does not prove causation. This caveat is addressed to some degree by the discussion of many cleverly controlled psychology studies. Protestantism is a key factor in the author’s theory of WEIRD development, and although it is addressed here and there, I did wonder about how some other peoples who seem WEIRD to me (Jews and Asians in particular) fit into his big picture. Also, I am no social scientist, but I was surprised that shame and guilt are so easy to differentiate from each other.
