WEIRD is an acronym used by academics, intellectuals, journalists to represent a type of person – or perhaps a population – that is:
- Western
- Educated
- Industrialized
- Rich
- Democratic
W. E. I. R. D.
The first time I saw this term was in the context of academic psychology studies, where WEIRD participants are often overrepresented (like your average American university undergrad).
I got to thinking, is there an Eastern counterpart? Can we create an equally pithy or interesting acronym to represent some of the opposing or countervailing properties?
And a bit of noodling led me to CHEER:
- Collectivist
- Hierarchical
- Eastern
- Emerging
- Relational
C. H. E. E. R.
Now I’m not an academic or intellectual or anything but a casual interested observer. I had other words in mind, but they didn’t seem as relevant or simply couldn’t fit into an easy acronym: words like Spiritual, Socialist, Group, Consensus…maybe consensus is better than collectivist, etc.
I’m sure others can create even better acronyms. Would love to hear if you do.
PS I thought it interesting, too, that the word “CHEER” has its own connotations, given how some countries in Asia, like Japan and Thailand, place an emphasis on expressing a kind of positive emotion in public. (tatemae and the land of smiles, respectively)