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The Righteous Mind

Jonathan Haidt, 2012

Discover why good people disagree on politics and religion, how moral intuitions precede reasoning, and how understanding different moral foundations helps bridge deep social divides.

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10 parts, about 26 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that moral judgment starts with fast intuition, and that reasoning mostly arrives afterward to defend what we already feel
  • Gives you six moral foundations to understand why people across the political divide hear the same issue so differently
  • Draws on cross cultural fieldwork, lab experiments and evolutionary theory to explain why humans are both groupish and self righteous

Who it is for

  • People baffled by relatives who vote the other way
  • Campaigners who want to persuade beyond their own side
  • Readers curious about the psychology behind religion and politics

What the summary covers

  1. The Divided Mind: Intuition and Reasoning3 min
  2. The Rider and the Elephant3 min
  3. Why Elephants Rule2 min
  4. The Intuitive Politician2 min
  5. Beyond Western Morality2 min
  6. The Six Moral Foundations3 min
  7. The Conservative Advantage2 min
  8. Groupish by Nature: Multilevel Selection3 min
  9. The Hive Switch and Sacred Glue3 min
  10. Toward Constructive Disagreement3 min

Recommended by

  • Edward O. WilsonUniversity Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard University
    A remarkable and original synthesis of social psychology, political analysis, and moral reasoning.
  • Paul BloomProfessor of psychology at the University of Toronto and emeritus professor at Yale University
    Jonathan Haidt is one of smartest and most creative psychologists alive
  • Simon Baron CohenProfessor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge
    Haidt's research has revolutionized the field of moral psychology.

About the author

  • Jonathan HaidtSocial psychologist and professor at NYU Stern School of Business
    • Born 19 October 1963; American social psychologist
    • Yale BA in philosophy 1985
    • MA and PhD in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania (1988, 1992)
    • Assistant professor at the University of Virginia from 1995
    • Moved to NYU Stern in 2011, the year before this book appeared

Read it alongside

  • Puts it into practiceStrangers in Their Own Land

    Haidt urges building relationships across party lines and listening with humility, while Hochschild describes five years of fieldwork among Louisiana Tea Party supporters, building an empathy bridge to them.

  • Puts it into practiceThe Persuaders

    Haidt urges people to reach moral intuitions before arguing across political divides. Giridharadas shows canvassers inviting life stories and sharing their own, helping voters connect a political issue to experiences they have felt.

  • Goes deeperThe Weirdest People in the World

    Jonathan Haidt says WEIRD societies are outliers who reduce morality to individual autonomy; Joseph Henrich traces their psychology to Church marriage rules that weakened kinship ties, while allowing that a hidden factor may remain.

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