How WEIRD Are You?

Which of these is the odd one out: rabbit, carrot, cat?

The answer, says Joseph Heinrich—author of The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous—depends on whether you are an analytical thinker or a relational one.

Analytical people see rabbit and cat, and think, “both are animals.” Relational types see rabbit and carrot, and think “rabbits eat carrots.”

Heinrich argues that Westerners tend to be analytical, which tracks with individualism. Meanwhile, those with greater kin loyalty are more holistic and less categorical. Our thought patterns are mainly derivative of our family life structures. The tighter one’s family bonds, the less analytical one is likely to be.

How analytical are you? How individualistic are you? What advantages and disadvantages do you experience as a result? If technological progress is a function of analysis and meaningful relationships are a function of holistic thinking, we should expect a purely analytical world to be robotic and a purely holistic one to be luddite. (How) can we pursue a middle way?