WEIRD

WEIRD #

• Western
• Educated
• Industrial
• Rich
• Democratic

→ 12% of humans are WEIRD, but 97% of psychological studies have WEIRD subjects

Effects on Visual Perception and Thought #

• Müller-Lyer illusion: only affects Western cultures ⟷ ⟩—⟨

  • homogeny of illusion: carpenters

• Spatial reference:

  • egocentric orientation (left/right relative to self) → box + stick experiment
  • vs allocentric orientation: NSEW

• holistic thought: self is dependant on group

  • object position/orientation evaluated in context of one another

• analytic thought: detachment of self from group

  • independence
  • Western way of thinking

dichotomy of thought #

• 85% holistic/allocentric, people interconnected

• 15% analytic/individualistic

• economic behavior

  • ultimatum game: proposer gets x money to accepter, if accepter rejects then nobody gets any money
    • rational: always accept (receiver), offer as little as possible (proposer)
    • WEIRD: 50% offered on avg, <20% rejected half the time
    • mean offer dependent on culture, market integration
      • more market trading → higher offer
  • dictator game: same as ultimatum, but must accept
    • rational: give zero
  • public goods game: put in x% to public, gets doubled, distributed equally
    • rational: give 100%, everyone gets double

Non-WEIRD Cultures #

Non-Western Cultures #

Aché #

• Amazon forest foragers/hunters
• risky hunting, meat shared equally among households
• sharing = normal, boasting = taboo
• Ultimatum: 40-50% mean, no offers rejected

Orma #

• pastoralists in Kenya (livestock)
• harambee tradition: local fund for public good (similar to taxes)
• Ultimatum: very generous, 58% mean

Au/Gnau #

• culturally diverse societies in Papua New Guinea
• Ultimatum: >50% offers, but many rejected
• Melanesian gift giving culture: gifts are an obligation to reciprocate
  • Norm: many small gifts, instead of large gifts
• hunting, foraging, horticulture (gardening)

Hadza #

• forager society in Africa / hunting
• share meat, but consider contributions a burden (opposite of Aché)
• Enforced by social sanctions (→ shaming, gossip), will try to get around it if needed
• Ultimatum: larger camps = larger offers, small offers rejected

Machiguenga #

• foragers in South America
• cooperation restricted to small family units (no personal names)
  • ↳ economically independent
• no stranger interaction
• Ultimatum: lowest offers (22%)

Lamalera #

• whale hunting, foraging
• culture of dividing spoils from large prey
• hunting is risky, requires large crew + cooperation
• specific names for dividing cuts of whale
• Ultimatum: treated like whale, divided equally (58% mean - very high)

4 level analysis: #

• ontogeny: influenced by societal norms
• mechanism: high activation of anterior insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
• function: culture evolved to support hunting large prey
• phylogeny: humans are generally prosocial

Wheat Example #

Ecology drives culture, culture drives behavior #

• Capuchin monkeys cracking nuts, humpback whales’ bubble nets, culture of honor in South, depigmentation due to wheat diet, farming heritage in rice farming.

• herding = individualistic, self-reliant, violent

• wheat = individualistic, nonviolent

• rice = collaborative (more holistic thought)