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🚨 New paper in @NatureComms: (annoyingly) using college students to study cross-cultural effects underestimates the size of cultural differences. More education predicts more Westernization. Income & status don't. w/ Cindel White. 1/

A highly educated Russian is as culturally close to the US as the average NZer (CFst=0.086 vs 0.081). Less educated Russians are far more distant (0.358). In 70% of countries, the well-educated are WEIRDer & the widest gaps are on sexuality & group membership. 2/ Paper:

Previous studies showed that socioeconomic status can shape people's values & behaviors. Here, we're able to break down SES into education, income & status. Only education seems to make you WEIRDer. 3/

It's not so much that education makes you American, just more Western. We re-ran the analysis using every country as the reference point & found the same effect for Sweden, the Netherlands, & other Western countries. There's no such correlation w/ non-Western powers such as China, Russia or India 4/

This may be because formal education is a specific cultural download that reflects its Western origins. It's not just content, it teaches patience, delayed gratification (study now for tests later), self-control (sit still & stay quiet), individualism (grades & achievements), & analytic thinking. 5/