Thread by @jposhaughnessy

1/ Reading "The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous" by Joseph Henrich

The first thing that strikes me is the idea that in addition to many psychological studies having serious replication problems

2/ the author found that even well designed studies have: "Massively biased samples: Most of what was known experimentally about human psychology and behavior was based on studies with undergraduates from Western societies.

3/ At the time, 96 percent of experimental participants were drawn from northern Europe, North America, or Australia, and about 70 percent of these were American undergraduates."

This leads to biases the author and his research associates dub

4/ “W.E.I.R.D.” because they came from societies that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic." and that those of us who were socialized in these environments have strikingly different personalities than people who were not.

5/ The author states: "Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, we WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical." which is very much at odds with the majority of people socialized in different

6/ cultures. The author then switches gears a bit and argues--persuasively-- that "culture can change people biologically independent of any genetic differences. Culture can and does alter our brains, hormones, and anatomy, along with our

7/ perceptions, motivations, personalities, emotions, and many other aspects of our minds."He uses what physically happens to the brain when people become highly literate and how a rising literacy rate materially affected first our brains physically and then our culture as a

8/ a whole, arguing it demonstrated positive forward compounding for "WEIRD" people and cultures.

Lots to think about in just the first 2 chapters of the book and it generates lots of questions about things I've believed and written about--so, onward, this should be a fun read