Beyond Belief: Enlightenment 2.0 - Jonathan Haidt

Interesting presentation. Haidt's research has been misconstrued by both liberals and conservatives to suggest that their values are better than their opponents. What he is documenting in his research is a clash in worldviews, not in political views.

Here is a little about Haidt.

Jonathan Haidt is associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the psychological bases of morality across different cultures and political ideology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. He was awarded the Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology in 2001.^[1] His book The Happiness Hypothesis examines ten "great ideas" dating from antiquity and their continued relevance to the happy life. A certain portion of his research has been focused on the emotion of elevation.

His Moral Foundations Theory looks at the way morality varies between cultures and identifies five fundamental moral values shared to a greater or lesser degree by different societies and individuals.^[2] These are:

1. Care for others, protecting them from harm. (He also referred to this dimension as Harm.)
2. Fairness, Justice, treating others equally.
3. Loyalty to your group, family, nation. (He also referred to this dimension as Ingroup.)
4. Respect for tradition and legitimate authority. (He also referred to this dimension as Authority.)
5. Purity, avoiding disgusting things, foods, actions.

Haidt found that Americans who identified as liberals tended to value care and fairness higher than loyalty, respect, and purity. Self-identified conservative Americans valued care and fairness less, and the remaining three values more. Both groups gave care the highest over-all weighting, but conservatives valued fairness the lowest, whereas liberals valued purity the lowest.

Tags: Beyond Belief, Enlightenment 2.0, Jonathan Haidt, evolution, morality, culture, Psychology, Religion, The Happiness Hypothesis, Moral Foundations Theory, politics, Kohlberg