Jonathan Haidt

Key Contributions and Concepts

Jonathan Haidt's work, particularly moral foundations theory and social intuitionism, has had a profound impact on the fields of moral psychology, political psychology, and social psychology. Haidt's concepts have significantly influenced how mental health practitioners approach moral and ethical issues in therapy, providing a framework for understanding clients' diverse moral perspectives. His work has also impacted fields beyond psychology, including political science, sociology, and even business ethics. 

Positive Psychology        

Haidt began his career studying negative moral emotions, such as disgust and shame, but later shifted to understudied positive moral emotions like admiration, awe, and moral elevation. Haidt’s research on positive moral emotions positioned him as a key figure in positive psychology starting in 1999, a year after that field was founded by Martin Seligman. 

Positive Moral Emotions: According to Jonathan Haidt, positive moral emotions play a crucial role in fostering human flourishing by motivating virtuous behavior, enhancing social connections, and promoting psychological growth. 

Moral elevation: Haidt introduced the concept of moral elevation, which is defined as an emotion experienced when witnessing acts of moral beauty. This emotion is characterized by feelings of warmth, inspiration, and a desire to improve oneself. 

Moral elevation has a biological basis as demonstrated by Haidt's research, which found that moral elevation triggers responses, such as activation of cranial and autonomic nerves. Moral elevation also has psychological effects, including enhanced prosocial behavior, positive social cognition, and a desire to improve oneself. 

Haidt’s research has also been influential in character education programs, such as The Positivity Project, which applies his approach to fostering resilience and emotional stability through character strengths.

Through his pioneering studies on positive emotions and their implications for morality and human flourishing, Haidt has advanced the field of positive psychology. His work in positive psychology laid the foundation for his later focus on moral psychology and its applications to understanding cultural and political differences. 

The Elephant and the Rider  

The "elephant and the rider" is a metaphor Haidt uses to illustrate the relationship between intuitive and rational processes in human cognition and decision-making. In Haidt’s metaphor, the elephant represents our automatic, intuitive, and emotional responses, while the rider symbolizes our conscious, controlled, and rational thought processes.  

In the metaphor, the rider (rational mind) often believes it's in control, but in reality the powerful elephant (emotional, intuitive mind) is the driving force behind most of our decisions and behaviors.  

The elephant and rider metaphor is used to explain why people often struggle to change their behavior or beliefs, even when presented with logical arguments. It helps illustrate the power of emotions and intuitions in decision-making and the limitations of purely rational approaches to persuasion or behavior change. This concept is particularly useful in understanding moral judgments, political beliefs, and personal habits.

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT)       

Moral foundations theory (MFT) is a psychological framework developed by Jonathan Haidt and colleagues to explain the origins and variations in human moral reasoning. The theory proposes that morality is built upon innate, modular foundations that have evolved to address adaptive challenges in human social life. 

MFT identified five moral foundations:

• Care/harm
• Fairness/cheating
• Loyalty/betrayal
• Authority/subversion
• Sanctity/degradation 

Later Haidt added liberty/oppression. According to MFT, these foundations form the building blocks of morality across cultures, with different societies and individuals prioritizing them to varying degrees.  

MFT emerged as a reaction against developmental rationalist theories of morality associated with Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget. Haidt found these earlier approaches too cognitive and lacking in emotional consideration.  

Inspired by anthropologist Richard Shweder's work on cultural variability in morality, Haidt began researching moral differences across cultures. This led to the development of his social intuitionist approach to morality, which emphasizes quick, intuitive emotional judgments over conscious reasoning. MFT was first proposed in 2004 and has since been refined and expanded through collaborative research.

Social Intuition Approach           

Haidt developed social intuitionism as a model of moral judgment that emphasizes the primacy of intuitive, emotional responses in moral decision-making.  

The approach challenges traditional rationalist views of morality by arguing that moral judgments are primarily caused by quick moral intuitions, while moral reasoning often serves as post-hoc rationalization of already-formed judgments. The model suggests that moral intuitions come first and strategic reasoning second, highlighting the importance of emotional and social factors in shaping our moral beliefs and decisions. 

The model emphasizes the social nature of moral reasoning, suggesting that moral judgments are often influenced by the expressed judgments of others. To apply this model, researchers and practitioners should:

• Recognize the primacy of intuition in moral judgments.
• Examine the social and cultural factors shaping these intuitions.
• Analyze how individuals construct post-hoc justifications for their intuitive responses.
• Consider the role of social influence in shaping and reinforcing moral beliefs.
• Explore techniques to engage with and potentially modify moral intuitions, rather than relying solely on rational argumentation.
• The social intuition approach can be particularly useful in understanding moral disagreements, as it highlights why logical arguments often fail to change deeply held moral beliefs.