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utsfl:classroom:seminars:pbh310 [2024/03/27 06:18] – 3 v 6 and attempted short-form definitions of the taste receptors balleyne | utsfl:classroom:seminars:pbh310 [2025/02/12 16:12] (current) – [Part 2: Six Taste Receptors] fixed a typo balleyne | ||
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For a guide through the field of moral psychology, I'm going to turn to Jonathan Haidt - whose name you'll see all over the Wikipedia article on [[wp> | For a guide through the field of moral psychology, I'm going to turn to Jonathan Haidt - whose name you'll see all over the Wikipedia article on [[wp> | ||
- | (I first encountered Jonathan Haidt' | + | (Share some of my 2020-2024 journey |
- | I'm going to pull out the core insights from Haidt' | + | I'm going to pull out the core insights from Haidt' |
===== Part 1: The Elephant and the Rider ===== | ===== Part 1: The Elephant and the Rider ===== | ||
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* More on the particular moral feelings in part 2, but for now, let's think about the method here: intuitions first, reasoning second | * More on the particular moral feelings in part 2, but for now, let's think about the method here: intuitions first, reasoning second | ||
- | ==== The Elephant and the Rider ==== | + | ==== Elephants Rule ==== |
Through much of his research, Haidt found that: **Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.** He sums this up with his analogy of the elephant and the rider. | Through much of his research, Haidt found that: **Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.** He sums this up with his analogy of the elephant and the rider. | ||
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{{youtube> | {{youtube> | ||
- | Jonathon | + | Jonathan |
> On February 3, 2007, shortly before lunch, I discovered that I was a chronic liar. I was at home, writing a review article on moral psychology, when my wife, Jayne, walked by my desk. In passing, she asked me not to leave dirty dishes on the counter where she prepared our baby's food. Her request was polite but its tone added a postscript: "As I have asked you a hundred times before." | > On February 3, 2007, shortly before lunch, I discovered that I was a chronic liar. I was at home, writing a review article on moral psychology, when my wife, Jayne, walked by my desk. In passing, she asked me not to leave dirty dishes on the counter where she prepared our baby's food. Her request was polite but its tone added a postscript: "As I have asked you a hundred times before." | ||
> | > | ||
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It's the **moral flash** I want you to recognize, your moral intuitions. This is your elephant. | It's the **moral flash** I want you to recognize, your moral intuitions. This is your elephant. | ||
- | Think about your own experience, talking to other people, but more importantly, | + | Think about your own experience, talking to other people, but more importantly, |
In study after study, Haidt finds that moral judgment is far from a purely cerebral affair in which we're consciously reasoning (the rider), but actually "moral judgment is mostly done by the elephant." | In study after study, Haidt finds that moral judgment is far from a purely cerebral affair in which we're consciously reasoning (the rider), but actually "moral judgment is mostly done by the elephant." | ||
Line 65: | Line 65: | ||
:!: Haidt talks about the application of the social intuitionist model for moral persuasion: | :!: Haidt talks about the application of the social intuitionist model for moral persuasion: | ||
- | > The social intuitionist model offers an explanation of why moral and political arguments are so frustrating: | + | > The social intuitionist model offers an explanation of why moral and political arguments are so frustrating: |
**Therefore, | **Therefore, | ||
Line 96: | Line 96: | ||
And this leads into the second half, on how we can apply further lessons from moral psychology on how to be persuasive to other people' | And this leads into the second half, on how we can apply further lessons from moral psychology on how to be persuasive to other people' | ||
- | ===== Empathy for Elephants | + | ===== Part 2: Six Taste Receptors |
The first principle in moral psychology is that " | The first principle in moral psychology is that " | ||
- | < | + | < |
- | FIXME I need some key images and graphs: the moral matrices from Part III, maybe the graphs from Part II as a warm up to that... | + | ==== Beyond WEIRD Morality |
- | + | ||
- | FIXME combine parts II and III into a second half, where Part II is descriptive and Part III is prescriptive (in parts of the pro-life application) | + | |
- | + | ||
- | ==== The Six Taste Receptors ==== | + | |
- | === Beyond WEIRD Morality === | + | |
Jonathan Haidt rights as a secular liberal, breaking out of his liberal university bubbles and broadening his understanding of moral psychology by developing a better understanding of the broad range of human moral reasoning, rather than only the narrow range he was accustomed to and familiar with before. | Jonathan Haidt rights as a secular liberal, breaking out of his liberal university bubbles and broadening his understanding of moral psychology by developing a better understanding of the broad range of human moral reasoning, rather than only the narrow range he was accustomed to and familiar with before. | ||
Line 115: | Line 110: | ||
He opens Part II like this((p. 111-112)): | He opens Part II like this((p. 111-112)): | ||
- | > I got my Ph.D. at McDonald' | + | > I got my Ph.D. at McDonald' |
> | > | ||
> But what I didn't expect was that these working-class subjects would sometimes find my request for justifications so perplexing. Each time someone said that the people in a story had done something wrong, I asked, "Can you tell me why that was wrong?" | > But what I didn't expect was that these working-class subjects would sometimes find my request for justifications so perplexing. Each time someone said that the people in a story had done something wrong, I asked, "Can you tell me why that was wrong?" | ||
Line 132: | Line 127: | ||
**The second principle in moral psychology is that there' | **The second principle in moral psychology is that there' | ||
- | === Moral Foundations Theory === | + | ==== Moral Foundations Theory |
After breaking out of the WEIRD matrix, Haidt and his team starting doing a ton of research on what came to be known as [[wp> | After breaking out of the WEIRD matrix, Haidt and his team starting doing a ton of research on what came to be known as [[wp> | ||
- | |||
- Care/Harm: sensitivity to signs of suffering and need, despising cruelty, feeling compassion and desire to protect individuals from harm | - Care/Harm: sensitivity to signs of suffering and need, despising cruelty, feeling compassion and desire to protect individuals from harm | ||
- | - Fairness/ | + | * Liberal: e.g. vegan activists, "stop the genocide", |
+ | * Conservative: | ||
- Liberty/ | - Liberty/ | ||
* liberals are most concerned about the rights of vulnerable groups, and they look to government to defend the weak against oppression by the strong. Conservatives, | * liberals are most concerned about the rights of vulnerable groups, and they look to government to defend the weak against oppression by the strong. Conservatives, | ||
+ | - Fairness/ | ||
+ | * Conservatives care more, and they rely on the fairness foundation more heavily (in terms of proportionality) | ||
+ | * Liberals are often uncomfortable with the negative side of [proportionality] - retribution ("an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" | ||
- Loyalty/ | - Loyalty/ | ||
- Authority/ | - Authority/ | ||
- | | + | * The political right more often builds on the loyalty foundation |
+ | * The political left more often values disobedience, | ||
+ | | ||
+ | * biologically linked to avoidance of disease and pathogens, powered by " | ||
+ | * conversely, it's what we find to be **sacred** - when we //value// and what //binds us together//; "Why do people readily treat objects (flags, crosses), places (Mecca, a battlefield related to the birth of your nation), people (saints, heroes), and principles (liberty, fraternity, equality) as though they were of infinite value? Whatever its origins, the psychology of sacredness **helps bind individuals into moral communities.** When someone in a moral community desecrates one of the sacred pillars supporting the community, the reaction is sure to be swift, emotional, collective, and punitive." | ||
+ | * e.g. Chastity as a virtue of purity, vs "your body may be a temple, but mine's an amusement park" bumper sticker | ||
+ | ==== Three vs Six ==== | ||
- | FIXME need better definitions and understanding, | + | Conclusion((p. 212-214)) |
- | === Three vs Six === | + | |
- | + | ||
- | FIXME may shorten to just the very end bolded part | + | |
- | Conclusion((p. 212-214)): | + | |
> Moral Foundations Theory says that there are (at least) six psychological systems that comprise the universal foundations of the world' | > Moral Foundations Theory says that there are (at least) six psychological systems that comprise the universal foundations of the world' | ||
> | > | ||
Line 156: | Line 156: | ||
> Everyone - left, right, and center - cares about liberty/ | > Everyone - left, right, and center - cares about liberty/ | ||
> | > | ||
- | > The fairness/ | + | > The fairness/ |
> | > | ||
- | > The remaining three foundations - loyalty/ | + | > The remaining three foundations - loyalty/ |
> | > | ||
> **Liberals have a three-foundation morality, whereas conservatives use all six. Liberal moral matrices rest on the care/harm, liberty/ | > **Liberals have a three-foundation morality, whereas conservatives use all six. Liberal moral matrices rest on the care/harm, liberty/ | ||
+ | This is the second principle in moral psychology: **there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So what do we do then with these findings to be more effective pro-life activists? **We need to keep these taste receptors in mind as we speak to elephants** (e.g. why do we focus so much in the pro-life message on care/harm and liberty/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, we turn to the third principle in moral psychology to develop deeper empathy, and learn a few more lessons that are relevant for heart apologetics and for the pro-life movement more broadly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Part 3: The Hive Switch ===== | ||
+ | <note warning> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Part III of the book, Haidt explores a lot of studies and a lot of evolutionary biology to make the point, from a descriptive, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The chimp part makes sense, as we share like 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. But bees? | ||
+ | |||
+ | While our similarities to chimpanzees can explain a lot of our selfishness from an evolutionary biology perspective, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Haidt tells the story of the burst of patriotism he experienced in the wake of 9/11, despite being an unpatriotic liberal((p. 219)): | ||
+ | > In the terrible days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I felt an urge so primitive I was embarrassed to admit it to my friends: I wanted to put an American flag decal on my car. | ||
+ | > | ||
+ | > The urge seemed to come out of nowhere, with no connection to anything I'd ever done. It was as if there was an ancient alarm box in the back of my brain with a sign on it that said, "In case of foreign attack, break glass and push button." | ||
+ | > | ||
+ | > But I was a professor, and professors don't do such things. Flag waving and nationalism are for conservatives. Professors are liberal globetrotting universalists, | ||
+ | > | ||
+ | > After three days and a welter of feelings I"d never felt before, I found a solution to my dilemma. I put an American flag in one corner of my rear windshield, and I put the United Nations flag in the opposite corner. That way I could announce that I loved my country, but don't worry, folks, I don't place it above other countries, and this was, after all, an attack on the whole world, sort of, right? | ||
+ | |||
+ | This switch into group mode, Jonathan Haidt calls The Hive Switch. We are 90 percent chimp and 10 percent bee. He says, "we are selfish primates who long to be part of something larger and nobler than ourselves." | ||
+ | * religious experience/ | ||
+ | * awe in nature | ||
+ | * a sports stadium | ||
+ | * a rock concert | ||
+ | * a meaningful and challenging experience that builds community (like a summer internship or tour) | ||
+ | |||
+ | FIXME example: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Collective ritual - Haidt says that human beings are // | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this hive switch is activated, this leads to the third principle in moral psychology: **morality binds and blinds.** That is, the Hive Switch //binds// us together in community. But, it also //blinds// us beyond the in-group. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Binding ==== | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | On community-building | ||
+ | * Muscular bonding in warfare (acting as a unit in a whole), but also sports and raves, etc | ||
+ | * Oxytocin simply makes people love their in-group more | ||
+ | * Ways to nudge everyone' | ||
+ | * **Increase similarity, not diversity.** [connect with religious idea bundling] To make a human hive, you want to make everyone feel like a family. So don't call attention to racial and ethnic differences; | ||
+ | * **Exploit synchrony: | ||
+ | * **Create healthy competition among teams, not individuals.** As McNeill said, soldiers don't risk their lives for their country or for the army; they do so for their buddies in the same squad or platoon. Studies show that intergroup competition increases love of the in-group far more than it increases dislike of the out-group. Intergroup competitions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But also, critical, on how we form our political ideologies and identities, Haidt breaks this down: | ||
+ | > Innate does not mean unmalleable; | ||
+ | > 1. Genes Make Brains: sensation-seeking / openness to experience vs threat sensitivity | ||
+ | > 2. Traits Guide Children Along Different Paths: | ||
+ | > (a) Dispositional traits: broad dimensions of personality that show themselves in many different situations and are fairly consistent from childhood through old age | ||
+ | > (b) Characteristic adaptations: | ||
+ | > 3/c. People Construct Life Narrative: The human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor, and among the most important stories we know are stories about ourselves... a bridge between a developing adolescent self and an adult political identity | ||
+ | |||
+ | e.g. grand unified narratives of liberalism or conservativism from the book FIXME maybe skip | ||
+ | Liberal: | ||
+ | > Once upon a time, the vast majority of human persons suffered in societies and social institutions that were unjust, unhealthy, repressive, and oppressive. These traditional societies were repehensible because of their deep-rooted inequality, exploitation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Conservative: | ||
+ | > Once upon a time, America was a shining beacon. Then liberals came along and erected ane enormous federal bureaucracy that handcuffed the invisible hand of the free market. They subverted our traditional American values and opposed God and faith at every step of the way... Instead of requiring that people work for a living, they siphoned money from hardwokring Americans and gave it to Cadillac-driving drug addicts and welfare queens. Instead of punishing criminals, they tried to " | ||
+ | |||
+ | FIXME idea bundling... binds and blinds is idea bundling... right? | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Blinding ==== | ||
+ | FIXME :!: BLINDING to the other side, e.g. | ||
+ | |||
+ | p. 334 A study to try to saw ahot a " | ||
+ | > Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, | ||
+ | > If you don't see that Reagan is pursuing positive values of Loyalty, Authority, and Sancity, you almost have to conclude that Republicans see no positive value in Care and Fairness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | e.g. Michael Feingold, a threater critic for a liberal newspaper the *Village Voice:* | ||
+ | > Republicans don't believe in the imagination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Lessons ==== | ||
+ | So, we can learn how teams form, and how people gravitate to the left or right. And we can learn wisdom for building strong communities. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But for being effective communicators to the broader culture, to people currently outside the pro-life community... | ||
+ | * We need to understand how abortion advocates may be thinking, working off different moral foundations, | ||
+ | * (ie. people don't hold different beliefs and worldviews because they' | ||
+ | * We also need to understand how abortion advocates may see //us// if they misunderstand our moral foundations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dale Carnegie uses a quotation from Henry Ford: | ||
+ | >> If there is one secret of success it lies in the ability to get the other person' | ||
+ | > | ||
+ | > It's such an obvious point, yet few of us apply it in moral and political arguments because our righteous minds so readily shift into combat mode. The rider and elephant work together smoothly to fend off attacks and lob rhetorical grenades of our own. The performance may impress our friends and show our allies that we are committed members of the team, but no matter how good our logic, it's not going to change the minds of our opponents if they are in combat mode too. If you really want to change someone' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Conclusion ===== | ||
- | ===== The Hive Switch ===== | + | The three principles of moral psychology: |
- | Morality binds and blinds. We are 90 Percent Chimp and 10 Percent Bee. | + | - Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second - the elephant and the rider |
+ | - There' | ||
+ | - Morality binds and blinds | ||
- | FIXME points to bring out: | + | These are the foundations |
- | * How political teams form, how people gravitate to the left or right | + | |
- | * For pro-life activism | + | |
- | * First, there' | + | |
- | * Second, there' | + | |
- | * We need to understand how abortion advocates may be thinking, working off different moral foundations, | + | |
- | * We also need to understand how abortion advocates may see //us// if they misunderstand our moral foundations, and be prepared | + |