WITHDRAWN

Human progress has historically depended on cognitive and behavioral diversity -the varied ideas, risktaking, and novel thinking that drive innovation.Yet contemporary psychological research often emphasizes standardized laboratory tasks, narrow diagnostic criteria, and conformity to normative performance, potentially pathologizing the very high-variance traits (e.g., intense focus or novelty-seeking) that enabled human creativity.We review evidence that psychology's findings are predominantly drawn from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations using artificial tasks with limited ecological validity , and that high-variance dimensions associated with neurodivergence (such as ADHD symptomatology and novelty-seeking) can foster exploration and creative insight .Ethical paradigms emphasizing autonomy and context (e.g., the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) further support research that values diverse abilities.In response, we propose a Variance-First research agenda: one that prioritizes naturalistic, field-embedded measurement (e.g., ecological momentary assessment), broad sampling (population registries), and cultural-evolutionary models to quantify the societal value of behavioral diversity.We outline methods (including randomized interventions and targettrial emulation analyses) to test specific hypotheses about variation and innovation, and we present illustrative results to demonstrate these plans.Finally, we discuss implications for ethics and public policy, arguing that acknowledging human variation will enrich scientific theory and better align practice with human rights and welfare.