Understanding WEIRD Populations

Issues and Debates – WEIRD Populations

In this course, Professor Ciarán O’Keeffe (Buckinghamshire New University) explores research with WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations. In the first lecture, we think about what a WEIRD population is. In the second lecture, we think about altruistic punishment as a forensic psychology example of research which differs in results across different populations. Next, we think about moral reasoning as a second example of a concept which WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations differ in their presentation of. In the fourth and final lecture, we think of some key reasons as to why these differences occur.

Understanding WEIRD Populations

In this lecture, we think about what a WEIRD population is, focusing in particular on: i) the acronym being short for white/Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic; (ii) limitations of studying only these populations including poor external validity; (iii) review data, which suggests that individuals who fall into the WEIRD category are unusual, when compared to the rest of the human population; (iv) a range of key behavioural differences between populations.