Moral Psychology

I do not expect to blog every day, but a discussion at lunch today led me to post this comment about  Jonathon Haidt , the social psychologist who spoke with Bill Moyers on Sunday.

Haidt noted that in deciding whether something (an act or an idea) is right or wrong, there are many dimensions one might consider.  He listed:

• care/harm done
• fairness/reciprocity
• loyalty/ingroup
• authority/respect
• purity/sanctity

Studies have shown that conservatives tend to give equal weight to all these dimensions.  Liberals, on the other hand, tend to give most of the weight to care/harm done and fairness/reciprocity.

If we are able to understand that "the other side" is coming from a different point-of-view, maybe we can quit thinking of them as EVIL and try to listen to what they are trying to say.

Let us all be honest and kind.  We deserve it and so do our opponents.