How Knowledge Of Different Cultures Changes Psychology

Psychology, like many other disciplines taught at universities, has suffered from its own focus on Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic (W.E.I.R.D) countries. It has stopped researchers from understanding people from other countries, and other cultures, which are characterised by other thinking styles, other social norms, and other ideas of the self.

This article shows some curious differences between different approaches to thinking, typical for different cultures, but it also shows just how far psychology, and the humanities in general, still need to go, and how much adaptation our scientific methods still need in order to adequately study the world – not just the West.