The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion

by Jonathan Haidt

We’re born to be righteous, but we have to learn what, exactly, people like us should be righteous about.

Liberals score higher on measures of neophilia (also known as “openness to experience”), not just for new foods but also for new people, music, and ideas. Conservatives are higher on neophobia; they prefer to stick with what’s tried and true, and they care a lot more about guarding borders, boundaries, and traditions.

Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle. It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.

Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.