“Weird,” a term with a prominently negative connotation, is commonly used when describing something uncommon or unordinary, but what exactly is W.E.I.R.D.? The acronym W.E.I.R.D. is used by social scientists and stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.
W.E.I.R.D, is used to “raise people’s consciousness about psychological differences and to emphasize that W.E.I.R.D. people are, but one unusual slice of humanity’s cultural diversity,” said by Joseph Henrich in Harvard.edu. The acronym is used to describe the mindset of those who are from the Western side of the world.
When questioning students around Las Vegas Academy (LVA), many said they do not know what W.E.I.R.D. stands for or that they have never heard of this psychological term.
Junior Piano major, Evan Macke when asked said, “Weird? Like as an acronym?”
Junior Orchestra major, AJ Pascua, “I’m not really sure actually. I only hear people use “weird” for describing.”
LVA’s librarian, Shelby Guinn, said, “I have never heard of this acronym called, weird.”
Many people such as Macke, Pascua, and Guinn, have not heard of such an acronym of W.E.I.R.D., and modern generation views the word only as an adjective.
In the acronym W.E.I.R.D., the ‘W’ stands for “Western,” referring to the Western hemisphere of the world. ‘E’ stands for “Educated,” addressing the idea that the Western world is more educated than the rest. ‘I’ stands for “Industrialized”, meaning widely developed industries. ‘R’ is rich, referring to the income, property, and resources of people. Finally, ‘D’ is for “Democratic,” a form of government. Thanks to this acronym, the knowledge of humanity’s cultural diversity expands.
With the different viewpoints and perspectives that the diverse world offers, it’s important to remember that not one perspective is the same as another. W.E.I.R.D provides a view to the culturally different mindsets from around the world, and it’s important to acknowledge the differences that different sides of the world have.
