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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
07:34
Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
The weirdest people in the world?
Joseph Henrich1, Steven J Heine, Ara Norenzayan
1Department of Psychology and Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada. joseph.henrich@gmail.com
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|June 17, 2010
Summary
Behavioral science research often relies on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) samples, which are surprisingly unrepresentative of global human psychology and behavior. Findings from WEIRD populations are frequently outliers, challenging universal claims about human nature.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Sciences
- Cross-cultural Psychology
- Human Behavior Research
Background:
- Broad claims about human psychology are often based on samples from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies.
- Researchers frequently assume WEIRD populations are representative of humans, or that human variation is minimal.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the comparative database across behavioral sciences to assess the representativeness of WEIRD samples.
- To determine if WEIRD subjects are typical or outliers compared to global populations.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of experimental results from diverse populations across multiple behavioral science domains.
- Comparative analysis of data to identify variability and outliers.
Main Results:
- Substantial variability in experimental results across different human populations was found.
- Subjects from WEIRD societies are frequently outliers, not representative of the broader human species.
- Domains reviewed include perception, cooperation, reasoning, and self-concept, revealing significant cross-population differences.
Conclusions:
- WEIRD populations are among the least representative for generalizing human psychology and behavior.
- Current research practices risk overstating universality based on limited, unusual samples.
- Structural reorganization of behavioral sciences is needed to address sampling biases and improve generalizability.
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