The WEIRDest people in the world: how the West became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous

"Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, analytical, and trusting of strangers. They focus on themselves--their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations--over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich tackles this question and others by weaving together cutting-edge research from anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology. Tracking the origins of monogamous nuclear families back into Late Antiquity, Henrich reveals how the Roman Catholic Church unintentionally shifted people's psychology, and the trajectory of Western civilization, by transforming the most fundamental of human institutions: those related to marriage and kinship. It was these social and psychological changes in Europe that eventually catalyzed and coevolved with expanding impersonal markets, rising occupational specialization, and growing competition among voluntary associations--laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in its vast scope and surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history."--Back cover.