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WEIRD societies may be more compatible with human nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2010

Alexandra Maryanski
Alexandra Maryanski
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of California–Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521. alexandra.maryanski@ucr.edu
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Abstract

Are WEIRD societies unrepresentative of humanity? According to Henrich et al., they are not useful for generalizing about humans because they are at the extreme end of the distribution for societal formations. In their vision, it is best to stick with the “tried and true” traditional societies for speculations about human nature. This commentary offers a more realistic starting point, and, oddly enough, concludes that WEIRD populations may be more compatible with humans' evolved nature than are most traditional societies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 2-3 , June 2010 , pp. 103 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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