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The Secret To A Balanced Life
Be less WEIRD, and focus on your relationships
Before you read on, I want you to answer the following question. I want you to think of, or even better write down, the first five statements that leap into your mind when I ask you the following:
Please complete the sentence: “I am…”
When I did this exercise, I wrote:
- I am an introvert
- I am bald
- I am a lover of moths
- I am a photographer
- I am a writer
In so doing, I proved — as if there were ever a doubt — that not only was I weird, but I was also WEIRD, meaning that I was from a society that was:
- Western;
- Educated;
- Industrial;
- Rich; and
- Democratic.
This acronym, WEIRD, was coined in 2010 in an article by Joe Henrich, Steve Heine and Ara Norenzayan. They showed, through many examples, that WEIRD societies are, well, weird. They think differently from the rest of the world.
WEIRD people will answer the ‘I am’ question as I did, by listing personal characteristics or skills (I am sad, an extrovert, a virtuoso on tambourine).
