THE WEIRDest PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: HOW THE WEST BECAME PSYCHOLOGICALLY PECULIAR AND PARTICULARLY PROSPEROUS By Joseph Henrich

Joseph Henrich, a professor at Harvard, maintains that we have become wealthy and successful because we’re Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD). Taking a historical approach, Henrich provides the formula for societies to out-perform other societies (and either defeat them or absorb them).

This 680-page book examines the ways countries can invest in their people to produce economies that generate wealth and power. Henrich shows how people who are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, analytical, and trusting of strangers tend to succeed. Some societies require strict adherence to social norms and values. But time and time again, Henrich shows that people who focus on themselves–their special attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations–tend to be confident, progressive, and astute.

Henrich explores the differences in family structures, marriage, and religion that produce such different results. And, of course, the impact of markets on the economies of countries result in the wealth–or poverty–of nations.

If you’re the mood for a comprehensive Deep Dive into why the West dominates the world (although China is creeping up), give The WEIRDest People in the World a try. GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Preface xi

Prelude: Your Brain Has Been Modified 3

What God Wants 7

The Histories of Religions, Biologies, and Psychologies 16

Part I The Evolution of Societies and Psychologies

1 WEIRD Psychology 21

Really, Who Are You? 24

Marshmallows Come to Those Who Wait 38

UN Diplomats Get Parking Tickets 41

Obsessed with Intentions 49

Missing the Forest 52

The Rest of the Iceberg 55

2 Making a Cultural Species 59

Evolved to Learn 61

Evolving Societies 68

Avenues into Your Mind 82

3 Clans, States, and Why You Can’t Get Here from There 87

How Ilahita Got Big 88

When, How, and Why Did Societies Scale Up? 103

Getting to Premodern States 112

Going End Around 121

4 The Gods Are Watching. Behave! 123

Moralizing Gods and Contingent Afterlives 128

The Evolution of Gods and Rituals 139

Hell, Free Will, and Moral Universalism 146

Persuasive Martyrs and Boring Rituals 148

The Launchpad 151

Part II The Origins of WEIRD People

5 WEIRD Families 155

Dissolving the Traditional Family 159

The Carolingians, Manoriaiism, and the European Marriage Pattern 186

Downstream Transformations 191

6 Psychological Differences, Families, and the Church 193

Kinship Intensity and Psychology 194

The Church Altered Kinship and Changed Psychology 224

Opening the Floodgates 230

7 Europe and Asia 233

The Church’s Footprints 234

Psychological Differences Within China and India 244

Fertile Ground 252

8 WEIRD Monogamy 255

A “Peculiar” institution 258

Polygyny’s Math Problem 263

A Testosterone Suppression System 268

Trust, Teamwork, and Crime 274

Putting the Pieces Together 281

Part III New Institutions, New Psychologies

9 Of Commerce and Cooperation 287

Market Integration and Impersonal Prosociality 290

“No Hui, No Market Towns” 301

The Commercial and Urban Revolutions 307

Round Up 320

10 Domesticating the Competition 322

War, Religion, and Psychology 322

Europeans Made War, and War Made Them WEIRDer 332

Taming Intergroup Conflict 340

When and Why? 350

Harnessing the Power of Competition 357

11 Market Mentalities 360

How Work Became Virtuous 367

Be Yourself: The Origins of WEIRD Personalities 379

It’s Big, but How Big? 390

Part IV Birthing the Modern World

12 Law, Science, and Religion 395

Universal Laws, Conflicting Principles, and Individual Rights 398

Representative Governments and Democracy 407

The WEIRDest Religion 415

Dark Matter or Enlightenment? 427

13 Escape Velocity 430

Wiring Up the Collective Brain 442

More Inventive? 460

Psychology and Innovation in the Modern World 465

Escaping the Trap 466

14 The Dark Matter of History 469

Guns, Germs, and Other Factors 474

Globalization and Its Discontents 484

Appendix A Milestones in the Marriage and Family Program 491

Appendix B Additional Plots 499

Appendix C The Psychological Impacts of Relational and Residential Mobility 501

Notes 507

Bibliography 585

Index 657

11 thoughts on “THE WEIRDest PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: HOW THE WEST BECAME PSYCHOLOGICALLY PECULIAR AND PARTICULARLY PROSPEROUS By Joseph Henrich

    1. george Post author

      Patti, I agree with you on education. The Pandemic has damaged the learning prospects of most students at all levels. Many of our schools in Western NY are working on a “hybrid” model where students and teachers meet in a traditional classroom a couple days a week while “working” remotely via ZOOM the rest of the week. No one likes this mode of instruction.

      Reply
  1. Jeff Meyerson

    Yeah, I’m with Michael – interesting, but pass. WEIRD is definitely a new acronym for me.

    Bummer about the Bills. Better luck next time. I think the Chiefs will crush the Bucs. Brady self-destructed badly in the second half, but the Packers refused to take the win.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, Diane and I will be rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to defeat Tom Brady and the Bucs. The Bills over-achieved this year and learned how far they need to go to measure up to the Chiefs.

      Reply

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