Jonathan Haidt

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Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt 2012 03.jpg
Born (1963-10-19) October 19, 1963 (age 49)
Scarsdale, New York[1]
Fields Positive psychology, political psychology, ethics and morality, attitudes and beliefs
Institutions New York University Stern School of Business (professor)
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D.)
Doctoral advisor Jonathan Baron
Influences Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Charles Darwin, David Hume, E. O. Wilson, Richard Shweder, Joseph Henrich, Steven Heine, Ara Norenzayan, Richard E. Nisbett, David Sloan Wilson

Jonathan Haidt (born October 19, 1963) is a professor at New York University Stern School of Business. For 16 years he taught psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the psychological bases of morality across different cultures and political ideologies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. He was awarded the Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology in 2001.[2] His book The Happiness Hypothesis examines ten "great ideas" dating from antiquity and their continued relevance to the happy life. Part of his research focused on the emotion of elevation. His latest book The Righteous Mind is about why good people are divided by politics and religion.

Contents

Personal life [edit]

Haidt describes himself as politically centrist and formerly liberal prior to his work on the moral foundations theory.[3]

Social Intuitionism [edit]

Haidt's early claim to fame was the research program known as Social intuitionism.[4] According to this view, moral judgments are mostly the products of quick, intuitive evaluations of scenarios with certain content. Moral reasoning is usually a largely post hoc phenomenon. People are, as Haidt says, "intuitive lawyers" whose reasoning usually seeks to vindicate the person's own intuition rather than openly assess the case from an impartial point of view.

However, the view allows that other people's reasoning can affect one's own intuitions. (This seems to mean both the nature of one's intuition at a time and one's dispositions to have intuitions at a later time.) Social reasoning is the typical means by which people's moral views change, when they change, according to Social Intuitionism—this is the 'Social' aspect of the theory.

Elephant and Rider Metaphor [edit]

The observations of Social intuitionism, that intuitions come first and rationalization second, led to the Elephant and Rider Metaphor.[5] The rider represents the conscious controlled processes and the elephant represents all of the automatic processes. The metaphor corresponds to Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow.[6] This metaphor is used extensively in both The Happiness Hypothesis and The Righteous Mind.

Moral Foundations Theory [edit]

Haidt is best known for what he dubs "Moral Foundations Theory", which has been reported in publications such as The Atlantic,[7] Boston Globe,[8] and The Huffington Post.[9] It is the basis of his first TED talk.[10]

Moral Foundations Theory considers the way morality varies between cultures and identifies five (later revised to six) "foundations" that underlie morality in all societies and individuals. He names them using pairs of opposites to indicate that they provide continua along which judgments can be measured.[11] These are:

  1. Care/harm for others, protecting them from harm.
  2. Fairness/cheating, Justice, treating others in proportion to their actions, giving them their "just deserts".[12][13] (He has also referred to this dimension as Proportionality.)
  3. Liberty/oppression, characterizes judgments in terms of whether subjects are tyrannized.
  4. Loyalty/betrayal to your group, family, nation. (He has also referred to this dimension as Ingroup.)
  5. Authority/subversion for tradition and legitimate authority. (He has also connected this foundation to a notion of Respect.)
  6. Sanctity/degradation, avoiding disgusting things, foods, actions. (He has also referred to this as Purity.)

Haidt found that the more politically liberal or left-wing people are, the more they tend to value care and fairness (proportionality), and the less they tend to value loyalty, respect for authority and purity. Conservatives or right-wing people, tend to value all the moral foundations somewhat equally. Similar results were found across the political spectrum in other countries.[14]

Haidt has also described the liberal emphasis on care as "one foundation morality", contrasting with the conservative moral balance.[3][15]

Criticism [edit]

Haidt was criticized for oversimplification and lenience toward moral beliefs that historically led to grave injustices. In a response to Haidt's suggestion that atheists "pollute the scientific study of religion,"[16] author Sam Harris wrote, "Even if Haidt's reading of the literature on morality were correct, and all this manufactured bewilderment proves to be useful in getting certain people to donate time, money, and blood to their neighbors—so what? Is science now in the business of nurturing useful delusions? Surely we can grow in altruism, and refine our ethical intuitions, and even explore the furthest reaches of human happiness, without lying to ourselves about the nature of the universe."[17]

Social Psychologist John T. Jost said Haidt's map of innate moral values risks putting "a smiley face on authoritarianism" [18]

Praise [edit]

In 2012, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the FP Top 100 Global Thinkers.[19]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588000150.html
  2. ^ "This Emotional Life: Jonathan Haidt, Ph.D.". PBS. Retrieved April 22, 2012. 
  3. ^ a b "Haidt on Moyers & Company". 
  4. ^ The most famous articulation of Social Intuitionism is Haidt's "The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail", a 2001 paper in Psychological Review.
  5. ^ McNerney, Samuel. "Jonathan Haidt and the Moral Matrix: Breaking Out of Our Righteous Minds". Scientific American (blogs). Retrieved 2 February 2013. 
  6. ^ Haidt, Jonathan. "Reasons Matter (When Intuitions Don’t Object)". New York Times (blogs). Retrieved 2 February 2013. 
  7. ^ Edsall, Thomas Byrne (February 6, 2012). "Studies: Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From Venus". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 22, 2012. 
  8. ^ "Irreconcilable differences links". The Boston Globe. 
  9. ^ "Conservatives vs. Liberals: More Than Politics". Huffington Post. 2012-02-09. 
  10. ^ "Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives | Video on". Ted.com. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 
  11. ^ Haidt, Jonathan; Jesse Graham (2007). "When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions That Liberals May Not Recognize" (PDF). Social Justice Research 20 (1): 98–116. doi:10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 
  12. ^ "Moral Foundations Theory homepage". virginia.edu. January 22, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012. 
  13. ^ Haidt 2012, Chapter 7-8
  14. ^ TED Talks: Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives at TED in 2008
  15. ^ "Haidt lecture at Stanford University". 
  16. ^ Haidt, Jonathan. "Moral Psychology And The Misunderstanding Of Religion". Edge. Retrieved April 22, 2012. 
  17. ^ Harris, Sam (September 11, 2007). "A Response to Jonathan Haidt". The Richard Dawkins Foundation. Retrieved April 22, 2012. 
  18. ^ Parry, Marc. "Jonathan Haidt Decodes the Tribal Psychology of Politics". chronicle of higher education. Retrieved 31 December 2012. 
  19. ^ "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers". Foreign Policy. 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012. 

Books [edit]

External links [edit]

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