Being tolerant and inclusive is one of the hallmarks of wellbeing.  Yet, I must admit that I often find it hard to understand and appreciate how others could hold such different views and opinions to myself.  When I read in the news of events in Asia, Africa and South America it is often so foreign to what I think is proper and acceptable.  I wonder how these strangers could accept or tolerate such challenging circumstances.  I speculate that I would stand up and oppose their situation.

Then I learned about how you and I are likely very WEIRD.  WEIRD stands for:

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic

We see the world though our WEIRD lens and imagine that others are unusual.  However, when you look at the data, us WEIRD folks are at best only 12% of the world population and therefore more the exception than the rule.  Over 90% of the psychological and behavioural research is conducted on our small sample population. How we perceive and judge others is significantly influenced by our abnormal (and we imagine fortunate) set of circumstances.  From these findings, we extrapolate to generalize about how others might react to a given situation. 

Acknowledging that where I am coming from is exceptional is very sobering.  Each of these five variables is extremely powerful in shaping my world view.  Take any one of these identifiers away  and my situation and view of normal or fair is turned upside-down.  Judging others and their sense of fairness is very exclusive and elite.  So much of our WEIRDness is hard wired into our world view.

Being tolerate and inclusive is immensely challenging but essential to our wellness.  I suggest that the solution is not to abandon our unique bounty but rather to let go of judging others based on our perceptions and values.  We should carefully consider whether it is our WEIRDness that is driving our judgements. 

Life is wonderfully complex. Maybe we are in the minority and wrong.  Consider carefully your own biases before jumping to conclusions or judging others choices.

Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org

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*: Ara Norenzayan et al, The weirdest people in the world? , Behavioural and Brain Science (2010)