Jonathan Haidt's Home Page
(it's pronounced "hite")

 

I am a 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 talk or this essay on politics, or this essay on religion.).

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Happiness Hypothesis

The Happiness Hypothesis

 

 

Flourishing

(this is a more academic book, a collection of essays that I co-edited)

Research and Publications (full list)


  Major articles:
        The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail (in Psychological Review, 2001)

       The New Synthesis in Moral Psychology (in Science, 2007)
        Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion (on Edge.org, 2007)

      Morality (a comprehensive review of moral psych, Handbook of Social Psych, 2010)

 

  Major talks:

        The moral foundations of political ideology (at TED.com, 2008)

        The New Science of Morality (Edge.org, 2010)

 

   Recent scientific articles:
       Liberals and conservatives rely on different moral foundations (Empirical evidence
       for moral foundations theory, in JPSP, 2009)
       Witnessing excellence in action (Empirical evidence about elevation and admiration, 2009)

 

  Recent political essays:
      Moral Psych and the Healthcare Debate (on TED Blog, 9/2009)
      What is wrong with those Tea Partiers? (on Sabato's Crystal Ball, 2/2010)

      My posts on the YourMorals.org Blog
      My posts on the CivilPolitics.org Blog

 

  Articles about my work, and other talks available online

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Teaching

Positive Psychology Stuff

Haidt Lab Group

Personal and CV

Websites I run:
  .... Measure your morals at www.YourMorals.org
.   .....www.HappinessHypothesis.com
   ......www.MoralFoundations.org (homepage for moral foundations theory)
..  .....www.DisgustScale.org (resources for studying disgust)
...  ....www.CivilPolitics.org (resources to promote civil politics)
...  ....www.RighteousMind.com (homepage for my next book)

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Mailing address: UVA Dept. of Psychology, 102 Gilmer Hall,

P.O. Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400

 

Email:  haidt at virginia.edu 

Follow me on Twitter here

 

For speaking engagements contact the Leigh Bureau

Literary agent: Brockman Inc.

 

Last Updated on August 13, 2010 , by Jon Haidt                                

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