Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt is a prominent American social psychologist and author. He currently serves as the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt focuses his scientific research on the psychology of morality and moral emotions. His work seeks to understand the deep, underlying reasons why humans act in certain ways. He explores how our internal feelings influence our social behavior and political views. By studying these processes, Haidt helps explain how societies form and why they often conflict.

One of Haidt's most significant scientific contributions is the moral foundations theory. This theory attempts to explain the evolutionary origins of human moral reasoning. Haidt argues that morality is based on innate, gut feelings rather than pure logic. He compares these moral foundations to the five innate taste receptors on a human tongue. Just as different cuisines use these receptors in various ways, different cultures develop unique moralities. He co-developed this theory with researchers Craig Joseph and Jesse Graham. The theory helps explain why moral reasoning varies so much across different global cultures.

To explain the mechanism of moral judgment, Haidt developed the social intuitionist model. This model suggests that moral judgments are mostly driven by automatic processes called moral intuitions. He uses a famous metaphor to describe this relationship: the elephant and the rider. The elephant represents our automatic, intuitive processes. The rider represents our conscious, reasoning processes. In this model, the elephant usually makes the initial decision. The rider then acts as a spokesperson, searching for reasons to justify the elephant's actions. This explains why it is often difficult to change someone's mind through logic alone.

The moral foundations theory identifies several specific categories of moral intuition. The original theory proposed five foundations: Care/harm, Fairness/cheating, Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion, and Sanctity/degradation. Haidt later added a sixth foundation called Liberty/oppression. He also recently split the fairness foundation into two distinct parts: equality and proportionality. He has even suggested that ownership could be an additional foundation. Scientists use the Moral Foundations Questionnaire-2 to measure these different values. This tool includes 36 items to assess how individuals prioritize these various moral pillars.

Haidt's research also delves into specific moral emotions like disgust and elevation. He worked with Paul Rozin and Clark McCauley to develop the Disgust Scale. They proposed that disgust began as a biological guardian of the mouth against pathogens. Over time, this emotion evolved to become a guardian of the social and moral order. Conversely, Haidt studied moral elevation with researcher Sara Algoe. Elevation is the feeling caused by witnessing acts of moral beauty. This emotion can cause feelings of warmth, calmness, and a desire to improve oneself. Interestingly, Haidt found that these feelings of elevation can even increase milk production in breastfeeding mothers through the hormone oxytocin.

Haidt's academic journey began in Scarsdale, New York, where he was raised in a secular Jewish family. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1985 with a degree in philosophy. He later earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 with a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. His dissertation focused on the morality of harmless but disgusting acts. He performed important field studies in Bhubaneswar, India, under the supervision of Richard Shweder. Haidt spent many years as a professor at the University of Virginia. He eventually moved to New York University in 2011 to focus on business ethics.

Throughout his career, Haidt has published several influential books for general audiences. "The Happiness Hypothesis" was published in 2006 and examines ancient philosophy and modern science. "The Righteous Mind" came out in 2012 to explore the intersection of morality and politics. In 2018, he co-edited "All Minus One," which illustrates John Stuart Mill's ideas on free speech. His 2024 book, "The Anxious Generation," argues that smartphones and overprotective parenting have rewired childhood. These works connect his psychological research to broad social issues like mental health and political polarization. He remains a central figure in the study of how humans flourish in a complex world.