The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion Sage Lecture

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The righteous mind Why good people are divided
by politics and religionSage Lecture 2Nov.
17, 2008

• Jonathan Haidt
• University of Virginia

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6 Lectures on Morality

• 11/10 What is morality and how does it work?
• 11/17 The righteous mind Why good people are
  divided by politics and religion
• 11/24 The positive moral emotions Elevation,
  awe, admiration, and gratitude 
• 12/1 Hive psychology, group selection, and
  leadership
• 12/8 The dark side Why moral psychology is the
  greatest source of evil  
• 12/15 The light side How to pursue happiness
  using ancient wisdom and modern psychology

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Magic trick 2
Where did Maxs morality come from? 1. Put into
Max from outside (empiricism) 2. Was in Max all
along (nativism) 3. Was constructed in Max, by
Max (constructivism)
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2. Nativism
Nature provides a first draft, which experience
then revises Built-in' does not mean
unmalleable it means organized in advance of
experience. (Marcus, 2004)
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The New Synthesis in Moral Psych

• 1) Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship)
• 2) Moral thinking is for social doing
• 3) Morality binds and builds
• 4) Morality is about more than harm and fairness

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The Social Intuitionist Model (Haidt, 2001)
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As Intuition
As Judgment
As Reasoning
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1
5
4
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Bs Reasoning
Bs Intuition
Bs Judgment
Four main processes 1) the intuitive judgment
link 2) the post-hoc reasoning link 3) the
reasoned persuasion link 4) the social
persuasion link
Two rare processes 5) the reasoned judgment
link 6) the private reflection link
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Intuition tilts the table
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The New Synthesis in Moral Psych

• 1) Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship)
• 2) Moral thinking is for social doing
• 3) Morality binds and builds
• 4) Morality is about more than harm and fairness

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The New Synthesis in Moral Psych

• 1) Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship)
• 2) Moral thinking is for social doing
• 3) Morality binds and builds
• 4) Morality is about more than harm and fairness

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3) Morality binds and builds
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3) Morality binds and builds
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Darwin Morality was the Binder

• A tribe including many members who, from
  possessing in a high degree the spirit of
  patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and
  sympathy, were always ready to aid one another,
  and to sacrifice themselves for the common good,
  would be victorious over most other tribes and
  this would be natural selection. At all times
  throughout the world tribes have supplanted other
  tribes and morality is one important element
  in their success
• --Descent of Man, Ch. V

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The New Synthesis in Moral Psych

• 1) Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship)
• 2) Moral thinking is for social doing
• 3) Morality binds and builds
• 4) Morality is about more than harm and fairness

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(No Transcript)
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Morality as harm reduction
Morality is an informal public system
applying to all rational persons, governing
behavior that affects others, and has the
lessening of evil or harm as its goal. (Gert,
Stanford Encycl. of Phil.)
If, as I believe, morality is a system of
thinking about (and maximizing) the well being of
conscious creatures like ourselves, many people's
moral concerns are frankly immoral. (Harris,
2008)
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Morality is.....
prescriptive judgments of justice, rights, and
welfare pertaining to how people ought to relate
to each other. (Turiel, 1983)

• Fairness/
• Justice

Harm/Care
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Morality is.....
prescriptive judgments of justice, rights, and
welfare pertaining to how people ought to relate
to each other. (Turiel, 1983)

• Fairness/
• Justice

Harm/Care
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(No Transcript)
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Looking for moral dark matter

• Survey of five sources, by one judge. What
  appraisals of the social world trigger an
  evaluative response?
• Designed to capture universals
• 1) De Waal (1996) Good Natured
• 2) Fiske (1992) Structures of Social Life
• 3) Brown (1991) Human Universals
• Designed to capture cultural variation
• 4) Shweder et al. (1996) The Big Three
• 5) Schwartz (1992) Value Survey

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And the winners are.

• Harm/care (5)
• Authority/respect (5)
• Fairness/reciprocity (5)

The first draft of the moral mind is organized
in advance of experience either to have certain
intuitions, or to be prepared to learn some
moral content easily.
Needed 2 more Ingroup/loyalty (4)
Purity/sanctity (3)
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1. Harm/care
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1. Harm/care
--Attachment system is pan-mammalian
(Bowlby) --Psychopaths lack a Violence
Inhibition Mechanism (Blair) --Mirror neurons
and empathy (Rizzolatti Decety) --Infants detect
helping and hurting...
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1. Harm/care
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1. Harm/care
These findings indicate that humans engage in
social evaluation far earlier in development than
previously thought, and support the view that the
capacity to evaluate individuals on the basis of
their social interactions is universal and
unlearned (Hamlin, Wynn, Bloom, 2007,
Nature). i.e., structured in advance of
experience
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2. Fairness/reciprocity
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2. Fairness/reciprocity
--Reciprocity is a human universal
(Brown) --Reciprocal altruism (Trivers) --People
want punishment to fit crime, not to prevent
future harm (Darley Carlsmith) --Concepts of
fairness not clear until age 7, but emotional
sensitivity to unfairness emerges much
earlier...
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When getting something good is bad...

• (Lobue, Nishida, Chiong, DeLoache, Haidt, under
  review
• Design 72 pairs of preschoolers, ages 30 to
  510--Pre-test can you give me 4/2/3
  fish?--Free play--Cleanup--Reward for
  cleanup stickers--Distribution 2 for
  Disadvantaged, 4 for Advantaged
• --Wait, observe--Go on to next task--Find
  2 more stickers, ask what should be
  done?--Equalize distribution

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• Clear D.I.A., with sulking

Pair 17, disadvantaged 5 yrs, 4 mo advantaged
4 yrs 9 mo
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• On implicit measures, early emergence, tiny
  age trend (n.s.)!

Advantaged
Disadvantaged
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• On explicit measures late emergence, clear
  age trend. Learned concepts catch up with early
  intuitive emotional response (structured in
  advance of experience)

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3. Ingroup/loyalty
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3. Ingroup/loyalty
--Minimal Groups Paradigm (Tajfel) --Early
preference for local accent (Kinzler, Dupoux,
Spelke, 2007) --Tribalism and initiation rites
emerge even when not culturally supported (e.g.,
street gangs and fraternities)
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4. Authority/respect
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4. Authority/respect
--Hierarchy is culturally widespread
egalitarianism is not the default, it is
maintained effortfully (Boehm) --Displays of
appeasement (Keltner Fessler) --Brown, Pronouns
of Power tu/vous distinction is recreated even
when language doesnt mark it Bob/Mr.-Smith
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5. Purity/sanctity
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5. Purity/sanctity

• --Disgust is universally present, extended into
  social world (Rozin, Haidt)
• --Purity pollution practices are widespread in
  traditional societies, many similarities
  (Douglas)
• --Purity and pollution practices emerge even in
  modern societies......

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Cooties

• A game learned from older kids by a general
  learning system?
• or
• A game that emerges from the 7-year-old-mind as
  the purity module matures?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vw6ylxWcwkUM

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Web survey of 271 UVA Intl Students

• In the United States, children in many
  schools say that certain children have cooties.
  If a child has cooties then other children try to
  avoid coming near or touching that child.
  Sometimes there are special ways of getting rid
  of cooties, or of protecting oneself from
  catching cooties. Kids talk about cooties for
  just a few years, and it seems to disappear. Do
  you know what cooties are? (It might have been
  called something else in your country or school)

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Web survey of 271 UVA Intl Students

• 107 said they recognized it, continued the study
• 75 finished the study
• 26 thought cooties was just head lice (with some
  social entailments)
• 43 said they were related to boy/girl
  germs/avoidance, or other mainly social issues
• --18 of these spent most of ages 7-11 in an
  English speaking country, or had English as
  native language
• --19 did not

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Cooties exists elsewhere

• Turkey Zandur
• Who had it Zandur' was mostly attributed to
  kids who were somehow not the favorite kid. if a
  kid was to be left out, then others said that
  he/she had the 'zandur'.
• How do you catch it If you were one of the top
  kids, then you were almost immune to 'zandur'.
  If you weren't the most favorite kid, it was
  likely for you to get the 'zandur' by hanging out
  with kids that have the 'zandur'.
• How to protect self You can refrain from hanging
  out with zandur kids. Actually there was another
  way that was even more surreal. It was almost
  like a vaccine against 'zandur'. However,
  obtaining the vaccine was a challenge. And the
  vaccine was something ridiculous usually, like a
  potion prepared by extracting the juice of local
  plants. You had to accomplish something, such as
  hold your breath for a long time, or jump over
  something with a bike etc. In other words, if
  you could prove that you had a unique quality,
  you were likely to get the vaccine. Then you
  were pretty much safe about getting 'zandur'.

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Cooties exists elsewhere

• Japan ___-kin (persons name-germs)
• Who had it (1) Anyone who touched a dirty thing,
  who were being stupid, or who were bad at
  something. (2)Elementary school kids would point
  out and tease kids who were fat, below average
  academically, and/or unathletic.
• How do you catch it (1) By touching something
  dirty, or making some mistakes in class, (2)
  Imaginary germs that can transfer by touching
  others
• How to protect self (1) If you are not the first
  person, then you can say 'engaccho' to protect
  you. (2) The initial reaction was to pretend they
  were flicking it off, as if it were dust and they
  would joke, 'I'll just have to take shower when I
  get home.'

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What properties affect likelihood of cooties?
Being opposite sex, dirty (un)popular,
(un)attractive. Intelligence doesnt matter much
In U.S. or Common-wealth n18
Not n19
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The First Draft....
HarmFairnessIngroupAuthorityPurity
Structured in advance of experience, in multiple
ways (e.g., emotions, learning modules,
likes/dislikes)
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Openness to Experience
Open individuals have an affinity for liberal,
progressive, left-wing political views, whereas
closed individuals prefer conservative,
traditional, right wing views(McCrae, 1996)
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The 5-channel Moral Equalizer
Check your settings at www.YourMorals.org
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Moral Foundations Questionnaire

• Moral Relevance When you decide whether
  something is right or wrong, to what extent are
  the following considerations relevant to your
  thinking?
• (6-point scale, not at all relevant to extremely
  relevant)
• Whether or not...
• someone cared for someone weak or vulnerable
  Harm
• some people were treated differently than others
  Fairness
• someone showed a lack of loyalty Ingroup
• someone conformed to the traditions of society
  Authority
• someone did something disgusting Purity

(Graham, Haidt, Nosek, under review)
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Moral Relevance RatingsYourMorals.org
participants (N26,464)
Harm
Fairness
Ingroup
Authority
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Authority
Ingroup
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Authority
Ingroup
Purity
50
Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Authority
Ingroup
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Authority
Ingroup
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Authority
Ingroup
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Ingroup
Authority
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Ingroup
Authority
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Ingroup
Authority
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Ingroup
Endorsement
Authority
Purity
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Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5
Harm
Fairness
Endorsement
Ingroup
Authority
Purity
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Caveats

• --Non-representative samples
• --There are more than 5 foundations
• --Ingroup and Authority may be bipolar

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Moral Sacredness and Taboo Trade-offs

• Try to imagine actually doing the following
  things, and indicate how much money someone would
  have to pay you (anonymously and secretly) to be
  willing to do each thing. For each action, assume
  that nothing bad would happen to you afterwards.
  Also assume that you cannot use the money to make
  up for your action.
• Scale 0 (Id do it for free), 10, 100,
  1,000, 10,000,
• 100,000, A million dollars, Never
  for any amount of money
• Kick a dog in the head, hard Harm
• Sign a secret-but-binding pledge to only hire
  people of your race in your company Fairness
• Publicly bet against your favorite sports team
  Ingroup
• Curse your parents, to their face Authority
• Get a blood transfusion of 1 pint of
  disease-free, compatible blood from a convicted
  child molester Purity

(Tetlock, 2003 Graham, Haidt, Nosek, under
review)
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Moral SacrednessYourMorals.org participants
(N8,004)
Never
Fairness
1M
Harm
100K
Purity
10K
Ingroup
1K
Authority
100
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Id be more likely to get a dog that was
Independent-minded and relates to its owner as a
friend and equal
extremely loyal to its home and family, and
doesnt warm up quickly to strangers
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Liberal Response Explain conservatism
psychologically

• Conservative opinions acquire coherence by
  virtue of the fact that they minimize uncertainty
  and threat while pursuing continuity with the
  past (i.e., status quo) and rationalizing
  inequality in society. Basic social, cognitive,
  and motivational differences may also explain why
  extreme right wing movements are typically
  obsessed with purity, cleanliness, hygiene,
  structure, and order - things that would
  otherwise have little to do with political
  positions per se...
• 
  (Jost et al., 2003)

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Liberals are often anti-I,A,P

• Science writers John Horgan George Johnson,
  talking about 5 foundations on bloggingheads.tv

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(No Transcript)
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Engaging the moral imagination what makes I, A,
P MORAL?
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Cooperation decays without punishment
Percent Contributed 0 10 20 30 40 50
60 70 80 90 100
Fehr Gachter,Nature, 2002
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
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Fundamentalist churches and village life

• Though a life of mutual dependence within a
  family circle was commonplace among members of SR
  and other new right activists I met, it was
  foreign to people I knew in academia and the New
  Left... Most of us were prepared, from the moment
  we left home for college, to leave family
  dependencies behind and learn to live as
  self-governing individuals. This left us free to
  move from one city to another...
• (Ault, Spirit and
  Flesh, 2005)

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Cosmopolitan liberals live in Atom-World, created
by post-enlightenment forces of modernity

• You can do what you want,
• just dont HARM anyone,
• and be FAIR to other individuals.

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But people traditionally lived in Lattice-World

• Groups/institutions exist and are primary.
• Morality is broader, includes foundations of
• Ingroup/loyalty
• Authority/respect
• Purity/sanctity

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But people traditionally lived in Lattice-World

• Groups/institutions exist and are primary.
• Morality is broader, includes foundations of
• Ingroup/loyalty
• Authority/respect
• Purity/sanctity

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Social capital social networks and the
associated norms of reciprocity and
trustworthiness
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Moral-communal capital Social capital, plus
institutions, traditions, and norms that
guarantee that contributions and hard work will
be rewarded, and that free-riders, exploiters,
and criminals will be punished.
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Factors that increase MCC
--Group is fundamental source of
value--Emphasize similarity, shared
traditions--Authoritarian or Authoritative
parenting--Moral imperative to
punish--Religiosity--Emphasis on duties, not
rights--Ethos of support for authority and
local institutions
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Factors that undermine MCC
--Individual is fundamental source of value
--Celebrate diversity, tolerance--Permissive
parenting--Reluctance to punish--Secularism--Em
phasis on rights, not duties--Question authority
institutions--Hi mobility, hi immigration,
low stability
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Traditional Morality Uses every tool in the
toolbox to increase MCC
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Liberal Morality Rejects I, A, P
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The Magic Trick E Pluribus Unum

• Liberals are seen to be obstacles, care only
  about pluribus
• --Immigration
• --Bilinguilism
• --Diversity
• --Civil liberties

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Liberalism is, in essence, the HIV virus because
it weakens the defense cells of a nation."
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Liberals speak for the weak and oppressed want
change and justice, even at risk of chaos
"The restraints on men, as well as their
liberties, are to be reckoned among their
rights. --Burke
Conservatives speak for institutions and
traditions want order even at cost to those at
the bottom
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Cons and Libs as Yin and Yang?
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• Shiva theDestroyer(change)

Vishnu the Preserver (stability)
The righteous mind Why good people are divided
by politics and religion