Is there any thought given to assessing whether, on average, some population is tending more towards self view or towards not-self view? This would be something like measuring the average level of vanity, conceit (positive or negative), anxiety, strife, etc. in a population.
Can we measure these things objectively? Are external objects or behaviors reliable indicators of the degree to which self-view is held? Is there a trend, broadly, in how it is changing? Are people in 2025 more prone to self-view than people in 1025? How do we measure such a hidden and slippery thing like pride/conceit/self-view?
What objective evidence can we use to determine if a group of people is tending towards a greater or lesser degree of self-view? Or maybe to put it another way, what are some behaviors, activities, etc. you would only see in a culture largely free of self-view?
I guess the tricky part with this is it’s really a question of belief which results in motivation which results in action. But actions and even motivations can align while the beliefs are different.
Or, maybe it’s a question of patterns of thinking. How active your default mode network? Or how self-referential is your default mode network? And then how to measure this objectively as behavior seen in the world? And then measure it at the population level, over time.
Maybe self-view is driven by the need for social status? And so those with a higher drive for status would have stronger degrees of self-view? Given this premise, maybe the experiment would be to test how opportunistic people are when it comes to chances to increase their social status? Maybe the drive for social status increases in response to perceived competitiveness to acquire such status? Then you can apply this at the cultural level, and look at ways in which societies change over time in terms of how competitive is the social status game? So then the question would be, why do some societies become more competitive in terms of social status? How does how a person is raised (in a loving, warm, accepting vs demanding, cold, conditional environment) determine their degree of self-view and desire for status?
Are more loving, accepting cultures ones where people feel less pressure to compete for status, hence have less conceit/self-view? Are more competitive and cutthroat cultures ones where people feel more pressure to compete for status, hence have more conceit/self-view?
A pretty broad and vague question 
Maybe a silly one. I just woke up from a nap.