[jedberg]

I studied CogSci in the late 90s, which involved taking psychology courses. Every psych course that ended in zero required you to participate in psychology experiments.

The profs like to say that 18-22, mostly white/asian, mostly rich kids are the most studied group of people in the USA.

Or course we now know that a ton of psychology research doesn't actually apply to people outside that small narrow window of people.

[philwelch]

The social sciences have a term—“WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) to describe the population that most psychological and social science research has studied the most deeply. As the acronym implies, these populations are not normal across human history or even the modern world.

One of the fascinating concepts in abnormal psychology is the notion of a “culture-bound syndrome”—a mental illness that only occurs in a specific cultural milieu. I wonder how many mental illnesses are actually culture-bound syndromes of WEIRD culture?

[thaumasiotes]

It doesn't apply within that window either.