Colette Murphy

Professor Jacobs

ENG 110

9/5/2022

In “Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind,” by Ethan Watters, several psychological scientists host their own experiments documenting the differences of notions of the self in the west and notions of the self in the east. One of which is Joe Henrich, who ran a behavioral game in which he discovered that “Americans show the tendency to be equitable with strangers- and to punish those who are not.” (page 391). As opposed to the Machiguenga peoples who’s “behavior was dramatically different from that of the average North American.” According to Henrich, “the offers from the first player were much lower.” And “the Machiguenga rarely refused even the lowest possible amount.” This leads me to believe that Americans only give to receive, and that the Machiguenga peoples give to give, since they know that everyone needs money in a village such as theirs. I say a village such as theirs because of the way Ethan Watters describes it: “they relied on local game”…”shared with their kin but rarely traded with outside groups.” His use of the word “groups” leads me to believe they are of different background from us; and knowing that, as I rephrase what I said before, when everyone is in need around you, you tend to be more generous because you have empathy towards their situation. Watters himself brings up a valuable point: “anthropologists took to the naval gazing of postmodernism and swore off attempts at rationality and science.” At the end of the day through “Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind,” I believe that Americans are more pessimistic and selfish than most Eastern peoples in our way of self.