WEIRD

WEIRD is an acronym standing for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, used to describe the distinct psychological traits of populations from these societies as identified by evolutionary scientist Joe Henrich.

Context

Micha Narberhaus explains:

"Evolutionary scientist Joe Henrich studied the psychology of Europeans and North Americans in comparison with the rest of the world, determining that we are distinct in our traits, which he summarises as 'WEIRD': Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic.
Our uniqueness stems from our distinctive psychology, characterised by high individualism, analytical thinking, impersonal trust in strangers, a focus on personal achievement rather than communal obligations, and a preference for guilt over shame. Henrich traces these traits back to the stringent prohibitions on incest and cousin marriages imposed by the medieval Catholic Church, which dismantled the intensive kinship networks and clans that dominate most societies worldwide. By enforcing marriage outside one's tribe (exogamy) and promoting nuclear families, the Church inadvertently fostered voluntary associations, urban migration, and market-oriented behaviours. This eroded the clan-first loyalty that is prevalent elsewhere, where extended families prioritise in-group ties, nepotism, and conformity.
This psychological shift enabled Western success through innovations such as impartial institutions, science, democracy and capitalism, driving economic prosperity and global influence. However, it has also resulted in a Western way of life that is marked by isolation, mobility, and meritocracy. This contrasts with the relational security of kin-based societies and could potentially explain both triumphs, such as technological advancement, and challenges, such as social atomisation."

Source

Micha Narberhaus - Substack
Book: The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich

Discussion

Alexander Beiner:

" London and Paris are very WEIRD places. This acronym, which stands for ‘Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic’ was coined by Joe Henrich and a team of researchers who began asking whether psychology research, often conducted on Western undergraduates, was truly indicative of human psychology or just people in the West. The latter turned out to be true. In fact WEIRD people are global outliers. As Henrich explains in his book The WEIRDest People in the World:

“WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. We focus on ourselves — our attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations — over our relationships and social roles. We aim to be “ourselves” across contexts and see inconsistencies in others as hypocrisy rather than flexibility. Like everyone else, we are inclined to go along with our peers and authority figures; but, we are less willing to conform to others when this conflicts with our own beliefs, observations, and preferences. We see ourselves as unique beings, not as nodes in a social network that stretches out through space and back in time.”

One of the key insights of Henrich’s research is that, perhaps counterintuitively, WEIRD people tend to be more trusting and generous toward strangers than non-WEIRD people, something known as impersonal prosociality. In more collectivist societies, social trust is bound up in kin-networks; complex webs of relatedness and obligation. People outside that network aren’t subject to the same rules or consequences, and so dealing with them is potentially riskier.

Henrich links the evolution of impersonal prosociality to a number of historical factors, perhaps most importantly the Catholic church outlawing cousin marriage.

Along with historical developments like the growth of cities, this drove people to leave where they were born and seek out new opportunities away from home. Henrich explains:

“As life was increasingly defined dealing with nonrelations or strangers, people came to prefer impartial rules and impersonal laws that applied to those in their groups or communities (their cities, guilds, monasteries, etc.) independent of social relationships, tribal identity, or social class.”

While WEIRD people are uncharacteristically focused on themselves and their own success, they are also more generous to strangers, and more willing to engage with those with different views and values. As a result, WEIRD countries like the UK or the US are culturally more accepting of immigrants than many other countries; this is partly why cities like London and Paris are more multicultural than Tokyo or Shanghai.

Impersonal prosociality is made possible because of another WEIRD cultural adaptation. Instead of relying on networks of trust within our in-group, we outsourced our trust to large institutions."

(https://beiner.substack.com/p/the-mythic-rebellion-why-the-far)