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Here\u2019s a little experiment. Take a second to think about how you would fill in the blank in this sentence: \u201cI am _____.\u201d\n\nIf you\u2019re anything like me, the first descriptors that come to mind are personal attributes (like \u201ccurious\u201d or \u201ckind\u201d) or identities (like \u201ca journalist\u201d or \u201ca runner\u201d). And if you answered that way, then I have some news for you: You are weird.\n\nI mean that in a very specific way. In social science, WEIRD is an acronym that stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Most societies in the world today \u2014 and throughout human history \u2014 don\u2019t fit that description. And when people from non-WEIRD cultures answer the \u201cI am\u201d statement, they tend to give very different answers, defining themselves with relation-based descriptors like \u201cMoe\u2019s father\u201d or \u201cDavid\u2019s brother.\u201d\n\nThat difference is only the tip of the iceberg. Much of what we take for granted as basic elements of human psychology and ethics are actually a peculiar WEIRD way of viewing the world.\n\nJoseph Henrich, an anthropologist at Harvard University, believes that this distinction between WEIRD and non-WEIRD psychologies is absolutely central to understanding our modern world. His 2020 book, \u201cThe WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous,\u201d explores the origins of these differences and argues that the emergence of a distinctly WEIRD psychology was central to the development of everything from the Industrial Revolution and market economies to representative government and human rights.\n\nWe discuss Henrich\u2019s theory of how \u201ccultural evolution\u201d leads to psychological \u2014 even genetic \u2014 changes in humans, the difference between societies that experience \u201cshame\u201d as a dominant emotion as opposed to \u201cguilt,\u201d the unique power of religion in driving cultural change, how cultural inventions like reading have literally reshaped human biology, why religious communes tend to outlast secular ones, why Henrich believes there is no static \u201chuman nature\u201d aside from our cultural learning abilities, how differences in moral psychology across the United States can predict Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 and 2020 vote share, why higher levels of immigration tend to lead to far more innovation and more.\n\nBook recommendations:\n\nWhy Europe? by Michael Mitterauer\n\nGuns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond\n\nThe Chosen Few by Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein\n\nListen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at\xa0nytimes.com/audioapp\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\nThis episode of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d was produced by Roge Karma. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Our production team is Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Kristina Samulewski.