Greenfield, P. M. (2013). The Changing Psychology of Culture From 1800 Through 2000. Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 24(9), 1722-1731.

Main point: A central theoretical claim from Greenfield 2009 is that diff values systems, behaviors and human psychologies are adapted to diff types of ecology. Now she tested this theory with Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Individualistic values, behavior, psychology are adapted to gesellschaft environments.

Collectivistic values, behavior, psychology are adapted to gemeinschaft conditions.

Gesellschaft versus gemeinschaft from wikipedia:

The Gemeinschaft–Gesellschaft dichotomy was proposed by Tönnies as a purely conceptual tool rather than as an ideal type in the way it was used by Max Weber to accentuate the key elements of a historic/social change. According to the dichotomy, social ties can be categorized, on one hand, as belonging to personal social interactions, and the roles, values, and beliefs based on such interactions (Gemeinschaft, German, commonly translated as “community”), or on the other hand as belonging to indirect interactions, impersonal roles, formal values, and beliefs based on such interactions (Gesellschaft, German, commonly translated as “society”).

“When any ecological dimension moves in the gesellschaft direction (urbanization, increased wealth, tech dev, availability of formal education), values, behaviors, and psych become more individualistic and materialistic.”

Method:

1.160 000 books from Google. In English, published between 1800 and 2000 in the USA. Second corpus 350 000 British books, same period. Analysed word frequency in the books.

Results:

Theory got some additional empirical support.