The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation

Science • Vol/Iss. 366(6466) • The American Association for the Advancement of Science • Washington, DC • Published In • Pages: 1-12 •
By Schulz, Jonathan F., Bahrami-Rad, Duman, Beauchamp, Jonathan P., Henrich, Joseph

Abstract

This article draws from anthropology, psychology, and history to gain insight into the causes of large-scale psychological variation among humans. The authors of this study are mainly concerned with the way that weak kinship structures induced by policies of the Western Church in Europe may have resulted in the modern "WEIRD" (an acronym for "Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic") psychological profiles in that same region. By correlating the amount of contact with the Western Church, rates of cross-cousin marriage (as an element of kin tightness), and degrees of individualism (as an element of WEIRD psychology), the authors are able to find support for this theory.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)by other researchersvariables were retrieved from D-PLACE and compiled into a Kinship Intensity Index
Database of the exposure of the Western Church in all countries by the year 1500CEresearcher's ownthe creation of this database is detailed in "The Origins of WEIRD Psychology" (Shulz, Barahmi-Rad, Beauchamp, and Henrich 2018)
Compiled psychological outcomes and valuesby other researcherssources listed for this data include the World Values Survey, European Social Survey, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations

Hypotheses (3)

HypothesisSupported
Populations with longer exposure to the medieval Western Church will be less conforming but more individualistic and impersonally prosocial (2)Supported
Populations with less intensive kin-based institutions will be less conforming but more individualistic and impersonally prosocial (2)Supported
Longer exposure to the Western Church should be associated with less intensive kin-based institutions (2-3)Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: dmccloskey103  anj.droe