The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Free Audiobook Download by Joseph Henrich

By examining the psychological and cultural factors that combined to create modern Western prosperity, The WEIRDest People in the World masterfully shows how Western society has slowly but systematically become more psychologically peculiar over time. Beginning with the significant contributions of western religions, The WEIRDest People in the World details how these beliefs have been shaped by human behavior shaped by natural selection and evolutionary psychology. When you contrast the religious beliefs of Westerners with non-Westerners, you begin to understand how every day decisions in Western society are influenced by a combination of biology, history and culture. All this leads to an understanding that is simply more nuanced than what we typically hear from academics alone.

A society that prizes individualism, competition, and the pursuit of material wealth is not long-lived. In "The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous," Joseph Henrich, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University and co-founder of the website for evolutionary psychology (http://www.pbs.org/transcripts), explores how our cultural values--which were forged in generations of European expansion--have shaped our economic and social success.

The WEIRDest People in the World is an audiobook about how the West became psychologically peculiar. The author, Joseph Henrich, argues that a confluence of religious ideas, materialism and an emphasis on individualism led to this.

Joseph Henrich in his book The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, argues that the reason why Westerners are so prosperous is because we've come to rely on a mix of cognitive capacities that have been found only in Western cultures. These cognitive capacities include a sense of time, history, religion, and science rooted in Europe and North America. Henrich argues that these forms of thinking have been responsible for rapid advancements from very recent to our present day because they allow people to adapt quickly to new technologies, envision grand projects, and act upon their desires.

The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous is about how western societies have become so unique. The author, Joseph Henrich, begins his book by exploring an idea he calls "The WEIRDeism Paradox." He argues that not only did Westerners blow past most other cultures in terms of growth and innovation but they also became less happy as time went on. Henrich describes this paradox as a "weird" way to be highly productive while being both unhappy and stressed out.

All of the people on this planet are WEIRD, but not all WEIRD people are the same. The word "weird" entered our vocabulary with a pejorative meaning, implying that something is wrong or abnormal. But since then, we've co-opted the word to mean "strange," and it has taken on another meaning: weirdly wonderful. Nowadays, this word is used to describe anything from space aliens to Bigfoot sightings. And in Joseph Henrich's new book "The WEIRDest People in the World," he sets out to show how these unusual creatures have shaped every corner of our culture and economy.