The moral roots of liberals and conservatives - Jonathan Haidt

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right, or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most. Jonathan Haidt studies how -- and why -- we evolved to be moral. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be civil and open-minded.

Talk by Jonathan Haidt.

[JamBreadSpotify]

I'm convinced most people in the world are moderate, just want to live their lives in peace. What you see in the media on the far left and the far right, probably represent 1% of the actual population. Turn the media off and live your life and love your communities.

[kevinbohl]

I figure now is a good time to revisit this video.

[crookedpaths]

Video: We need to these two groups to create a balance in our society.
Comments: The problem with the other group is...

[patriciataylor]

This is great. Just ordered two of his books. Wish I’d seen this a lot sooner. Much needed today in 2022

[mchiguita]

I'm a big fan of Jonathan Haidt's work. To the conservatives watching this - I see lots of comments below where people have stopped watching after a few minutes but this isn't quite what you think it may be. I'd only recommend that you persevere through to about the 4m30s point if not further. He is not some trojan horse for either the insane left or insane right but rather someone who has provided insights into how people arrive at their political viewpoints and also why polarisation is getting so much worse whether it be in the US or other democracies. Well worth watching no matter what your view points are.

[lizzyf]

My goodness it's like the two different parties watched a completely different video

[michaelmillete]

Crazy how this talk applies more today, than it did back in 2012.

[IamClapham]

Excellent talk. Beware of anyone who - knowingly or unwittingly - seeks to polarise society.

[elizabethrobinson]

"The great conservative insight is that order is really precious. It's really hard yo achieve, and it's really easy to lose."

[conan]

I am a huge lefty but never had I heard it explain in a way like this! This whole time I'm beating my brain asking how can the RIGHT be so blind but in fact it was me being blind to their beliefs. I'm more confused then ever but this is good because I want to understand more now then ever thank you very

[timacree]

superb TED talk. As a liberal, I feel inspired to be more open-minded to conservatives.

[goodtalker]

I assumed responsibility for an unplanned child when I was 22 years old. It was not easy. At the time I was much more liberal than I am today. Becoming a parent, and having to think of the interests of my daughter, forced me to live my way into a new way of thinking instead of thinking my way into a new way of living. Thanks for reading.

[wildmoonchild]

10 conservatives, the others were too afraid to raise their hands

[fahadrehman]

I see some confusion in the comments. Hoping to clear that up. Its not "open mindedness" that liberals are high in, its "open to experience". Its a psychological term, and one of the big 5 personality traits. The 5 scales are vastly agreed upon by psychological academia to be our best understanding of the dimensions of our personalities. Try to not think about it as a conversational "open minded" nature but rather as where someone stands on this important psychological dimension. Everything he's saying is bang on with the literature on the topic.

[obligatecarnivore]

When offered the blue pill and red pill the obvious answer is "hey free pills"

[joshuabruno]

This talk was in Feb 2008. It was, in my opinion, the peak of TED Talks. He punked them for being in danger of becoming an ideological echo chamber in such a clever way that they laughed and applauded him for it. I mean, he went in on them... "... if you understand this trait, you could understand why anybody would eat at Applebee's, but not anybody that you know." - hahahhahahha -

Jon: "this trait also tells us a lot about politics." -- and then gets them to self-identify as partisans, before explaining to them why this is a problem. In early 2008. Not New Years Eve 2012.

[ADEXClub]

Nice to hear the mention of Libertarians

[BlueLionsTVNiiNiiFC]

Thank you, i've always thought you have to be conservative with yourself and liberal to your neighbours.

We can't deny peoples experiences of the world, but we can learn to better co exist, to do that, understanding and accepting ourselves, is KEY to understand and accept each other

We're a lot more similar than we like to accept, its just that we don't like to show to each other.

[brfreddy]

I read his book “The Righteous Mind” and it’s a fantastic book. It covers all this and more in great depth. One of the most interesting books I’ve read. It even got me to realize how much we attempt to rationalize and justify everything in our life as a defense, and it helped me to stop doing that.

[cdanielh]

Wow. We need this more today than any day in US history. What a beautiful summation of what it is to be an American, I am looking at my Canadian Familia as well, and what we need to keep a healthy society in which our children can grow and prosper. Love one another people. We all bring strengths to the table. Keep the peace.