Understanding the simple fact that morality differs around the world, and even within societies, is the first step toward understanding your righteous mind.
Jonathan HaidtRead
Social reality is so complicated that, once you join one team or the other, you become specialized in detecting certain patterns, but you become blind to other patterns.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Social reality is complex, and once we align with a particular group, we may only see what supports that group's perspective while missing other important truths.
In this quote, Jonathan Haidt emphasizes the complexity of social reality and how aligning with a specific group can lead to a narrow perspective. When individuals commit to a team or ideology, they often become adept at recognizing patterns that support their beliefs but simultaneously develop a blindness to opposing viewpoints or differing patterns. This highlights the importance of open-mindedness and critical thinking in understanding the multifaceted nature of social issues.
Themes
Social RealityBiasGroupthinkPerspectivePatterns
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on social media, this quote could be used to remind participants to consider multiple viewpoints.
More from Jonathan Haidt
All quotes βSuppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It is meditation.
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Trying to run Congress without human relationships is like trying to run a car without motor oil. Should we be surprised when the whole thing freezes up?
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If you grow up in a WEIRD society, you become so well educated in the ethic of autonomy that you can detect oppression and inequality even where the apparent victims see nothing wrong.
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When you hear someone criticize a policy on the other side, that's fine. But when you start hearing motive-mongering and demonization, stand up to it just as you would if it were something that was racist or sexist. If we avoid the demonization, disagreements can be positive.
Jonathan HaidtRead
We humans are really good at forming groups to compete, and then dissolving the groups and reforming them along different lines to compete in a different way.
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