Jonathan Haidt's Home Page |
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I am an Associate Professor in the Social Psychology area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia. I study morality and emotion, and how they vary across cultures. I am also active in positive psychology (the scientific study of human flourishing) and study positive emotions such as moral elevation, admiration, and awe.
My research these days focuses on the moral foundations of politics, and on ways to transcend the “culture wars” by using recent discoveries in moral psychology to foster more civil forms of politics. Morality, by its very nature, makes it hard to study morality. It binds people together into teams that seek victory, not truth. It closes hearts and minds to opponents even as it makes cooperation and decency possible within groups.
To live virtuously as individuals and as societies, we must understand how our minds are built (see ch. 1 of The Happiness Hypothesis). We must find ways to overcome our natural self-righteousness (see ch. 4). We must respect and even learn from those whose morality differs from our own (see this essay on politics, or this one on religion.). ____________________________________________________________ |
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Research and Publications Is 'do unto others' written into our genes? (by Nicholas Wade in the NY Times)
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Websites I run: View a lecture given at the New Yorker 2012 conference encouraging liberals to transcend moralism and understand conservatives. Or see this lecture at the Beyond Belief II conference, on how "Enlightenment 2.0 requires morality 2.0."
Mailing address: UVA Dept. of Psychology, 102 Gilmer Hall, P.O. Box
400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400 Email: haidt at
virginia.edu For speaking engagements contact the Leigh Bureau |
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