Home / Authors / Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt Quotes

Psychologist

Jonathan Haidt is an American psychologist known for his research in moral psychology and social psychology. His work focuses on moral judgment, political ideology, and religious beliefs. Haidt's book, 'The Righteous Mind,' explores the evolution of morality and ideology and how they shape human behavior and social structures.

Filter quotes by topic

All People Moral Morality Thinking Psychology Ifs Evolutionary Psychology Humans Groups Mind Community World Giving Believe Brain Feelings Happiness Sex Should Society

Famous Jonathan Haidt Quotes

“Human rationality depends critically on sophisticated emotionality. It is only because our emotional brain works so well that our reasoning can work at all.”

Humans Wells Brain Emotional Depends Reasoning Sophisticated Rationality

Book:The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

Source: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

“I think the greatest work in social psychology from the 1950s and '60s is enormously important. I wish every high school kid could take a course in social psychology. I think we're making enormous strides in understanding the brain. These aren't yet giving us great insights, but I feel like we're on the verge of it. In five or ten years this basically searching the brain is really going to change things.”

Thinking Giving Important Kids School Wish Understanding Brain Psychology High School Insight Social Psychology

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think of myself as a social scientist. In order to get hired and to get promoted, we're forced to declare a disciplinary and sub-disciplinary specialty, so I am a psychologist and I am a social psychologist within that. But I think the exciting thing is to think about the social sciences in general and the nature of society. It's one of the hardest things to think about, because our brains aren't designed to think about these emergent entities. We're not good at it.”

Thinking Brain Scientist Exciting Psychologist Social Science

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“Almost everything we do is automatic, yet we're not aware of that. We feel like there's a circle of light. We're like the drunk who lost his keys and is looking under the streetlight, and the cop says, "Where'd you lose your keys?" You say, "Back in the alley, but the light's so much better over here." The divided self refers to the fact that we are basically animals with animal brains. These animal brains run our lives. They're very good at it.”

Running Animal Brain Very Good Drunk Cop

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“We are like a rider on top of a gigantic elephant. We can steer the elephant, and if he's not busy, he'll go where we want, but if he has other desires, he'll often go where he wants. How can one control the elephant? In part, this comes with maturity. In part, this comes with the development of your frontal cortex, so the frontal areas of the brain are especially involved in self-control, in suppressing your initial instinct to act. This is why teenagers are so impulsive. So it's terrible to allow the death penalty for teenagers, because they really don't have working brains yet.”

Desire Brain Terrible Instinct Busy Teenager Maturity Death Penalty Impulsive

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“The initial organization of the brain does not depend that much on experience. Nature provides a first draft, which experience then revises.”

Firsts Doe Brain Depends Organization Initials

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“Even if you have a brain predisposed to liberalism, you might end up with some conservative friends or find inspiring conservative role models who could be very influential on you, and that could send you down a different track in life.”

Ifs Different Ends Might Brain Roles Models Track Conservative Liberalism Role Models Influential

Author:Jonathan Haidt