The Symbolic Professions Are Super WEIRD

Symbolic capitalists are strange people. Actually, it might be more apt to say we are particularly WEIRD. In decades-worth of empirical studies carried out across the globe, anthropologist Joseph Henrich and his collaborators have documented many ways people from Western, Highly-Educated, Industrial, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies diverge systematically from most others worldwide. For instance:

• People from WEIRD societies tend to be much more future-oriented than other people: We prioritize patience, discipline, efficiency and planning. We valorize hard work (as something to be celebrated for its own sake rather than something that often simply must be done in pursuit of other objectives). We view time in a linear way, hold faith in 'progress,’ and try to actualize progress according to our visions for the future.

• People from WEIRD societies tend to be very focused on individuals — including and especially ourselves: We ruminate on the mental and emotional states of ourselves and others. We try to analyze others’ apparent motives and dispositions. We work to cultivate and affirm a sense of self (as distinct from others). We value the ability to exercise choice and determine our own future rather than conforming to traditions or expectations. We tend to overvalue our own stuff, to have a strong sense of possession and entitlement with respect to what is ‘ours,’ and more regularly display overconfidence in our own socially-valued abilities.

• People from WEIRD societies tend to prefer instrumental relationships, and ties that are freely entered into and exited over the sorts of duties and bonds that arise organically out of one’s history, circumstances or kinship networks (which we often try to escape).

• People from WEIRD societies tend to prefer abstract standards that apply to everyone and across circumstances over context-dependent judgments and norms. We are much more likely to conform to these rules and norms even in the absence of apparent surveillance, enforcement mechanisms, or likely sanction. We have much more faith than most others in formal processes and impersonal institutions.

• People from WEIRD societies tend to prize analytical over holistic thinking — and we tend to be particularly focused on ‘central’ actors and on foregrounded actions.

The most immediate implication of these realities, Henrich argued, is that many psychological theories and results claiming to illuminate “human nature” were, in fact, unlikely to generalize to humanity writ large. Key findings had been derived primarily from convenience samples of college students in America ...