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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.

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Famous Jonathan Haidt Quotes

“Depressed people are caught in a feedback loop in which distorted thoughts cause negative feelings, which then distort thinking further.”

Thinking Psychology Depression Suicide Help

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

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

“In real life, however, you don't react to what someone did; you react only to what you think she did, and the gap between action and perception is bridged by the art of impression management. If life itself is but what you deem it, then why not focus your efforts on persuading others to believe that you are a virtuous and trustworthy cooperator?”

Ifs Thinking Life Believe Art Real Action Effort Focus Perception Management Real Life Impression Why Not Gaps Virtuous Trustworthy Persuading

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

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

“There are a couple of watersheds in human evolution. Most people are comfortable thinking about tool use and language use as watersheds. But the ability to play non-zero-sum games was another watershed.”

People Thinking Humans Play Use Games Language Ability Evolution Couple Comfortable Tools Zero Human Evolution Zero Sum Game Watersheds

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“Human thinking depends on metaphor. We understand new and complex things in relation to the things we already know... once you pick a metaphor it will guide your thinking.”

Thinking Knows Humans Depends Picks Relation Complexes Metaphor Guides

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“If you think half of America votes badly because they are stupid or religious, you are trapped in a matrix ... Take the red pill, learn some moral psychology and step outside the moral matrix.”

Ifs Thinking America Religious Half Moral Steps Psychology Stupid Red Vote Trapped Pills

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think moral philosophy is speculation on how we ought to live together done by people who have very little clue how people work. So I think most moral philosophy is disconnected from the species that we happen to be. In fact, they like it that way. Many moral philosophers insist that morality grows out of our rationality, that it applies to any rational being anywhere in the universe, and that it is not based on contingent or coincidental facts about our evolution.”

People Thinking Done Philosophy Together Universe Moral Evolution Morality Philosopher Rational Rationality Clue Speculation Moral Philosophy

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think that moral philosophy is useful for framing questions, but terrible at answering them. I think moral psychology is booming right now, and we're making a lot of progress on understanding how we actually work, what our moral nature is.”

Thinking Philosophy Understanding Moral Psychology Progress Terrible Moral Philosophy Framing

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“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

“I think sociologists are among the best at thinking about emergence, of thinking about the ways that the society is more than the sum of the individuals. And I've found that much of the wisest writing on human social nature comes from sociology and anthropology, not from my own field of social psychology.”

Thinking Writing Individual Psychology Sociology Wisest Anthropology Social Psychology

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think the greatest truths, the ones that you find in every culture that has any sort of history of reflection of writing, the greatest truth is that there's nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. That's the way Shakespeare put it. But you get basically the same idea from Buddha, from the Bhagavad Gita in India, and from the Stoics in ancient Greece and Rome.”

Thinking Writing Culture Truth Is Reflection Ancient Greece

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“The world doesn't usually affect us directly. It's what we do with it. It's the filters that we put on it. That's the foundation of certainly most pop-psychology, and of a lot of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy. So that, I think, is the greatest truth.”

Thinking World Therapy Psychotherapy

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think that we are passionate creatures who really live our fullest life when we are deeply engaged, when we feel successes, and exult in them, when we feel losses and tragedies and are hurt by them. So I came to the conclusion that Eastern ideas of withdrawal may not be right for modern Westerners. If you read the ancient texts, they're pretty severe. I mean, they really are not the sort of thing that you would think compatible with really throwing yourself into life and being a part of it.”

Thinking Mean Hurt Loss Modern Tragedy Ancient Passionate Conclusion Eastern

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“I think that we Americans, in particular, tend to think too directly about problems. If there's a problem we want to basically go in with a screwdriver or else drop bombs on it. A better way to solve problems is to think indirectly and try to change the environment. So I think you can gain much better self-control not so much by working on yourself as by looking at the situations you're in and the people you hang around, and changing your environment.”

People Thinking Trying Problem Situation Environment Our Environment

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“[W]hen a group of people make something sacred, the members of the cult lose the ability to think clearly about it. Morality binds and blinds.”

People Thinking Loses Ability Groups Morality Members Sacred Cult Hens

Book:The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Source: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

“If you think that moral reasoning is something we do to figure out the truth, you’ll be constantly frustrated by how foolish, biased, and illogical people become when they disagree with you.”

People Ifs Thinking Moral Figures Foolish Reasoning Disagree Frustrated Biased Illogical Moral Reasoning

Book:The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Source: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

“I think Republicans need to take income inequality more seriously. Not because I favor equality of outcomes. I do not. I think the Right is correct to stress merit and earned rewards, not handouts and forced equality. But I think what Republicans are blind to is that power corrupts.”

Thinking Needs Republican Stress Blind Rewards Favors Income Inequality Merit Outcomes Income Inequality Power Corrupts Handouts

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“Anytime we're interacting with someone, we're judging them, we're sharing expectations, we think they didn't live up to those expectations.”

Thinking Judging Expectations Interacting

Author:Jonathan Haidt

“Liberals have difficulty understanding the Tea Party because they think it is a bunch of selfish racists. But I think the Tea Party is driven in large part by concerns about fairness.”

Thinking Understanding Party Concern Difficulty Driven Selfish Bunch Tea Racist Fairness Tea Party

Author:Jonathan Haidt