The WEIRDest People in the World

In this book, Joseph Henrich explores how Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations developed their unique psychological profiles.

He argues that changes in family structures, marriage, and religion, particularly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church, led to the emergence of WEIRD psychology.

This psychology is characterized by individualism, self-obsession, control-orientation, nonconformity, and analytical thinking, which contrast with the more group-focused and shame-driven cultures of non-Western societies.

Henrich uses research from anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explain how these psychological differences contributed to the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe.