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.
Jonathan HaidtRead
While it is useful to rebut charges and get your arguments out in circulation, you have to understand that arguments and evidence have little impact on people as long as their feelings tilt them against you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Emotions often outweigh logic in persuasion, making it important to connect with people's feelings.
This quote by Jonathan Haidt emphasizes the significant role that emotions play in shaping opinions and beliefs. While presenting logical arguments and evidence can be valuable, they are often ineffective if the audience's feelings are already biased against the speaker. Therefore, it is crucial to engage with people's emotions to foster understanding and influence their perspectives.
Themes
EmotionsPersuasionLogicArgumentsFeelings
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about climate change, one might quote this to emphasize the need for emotional engagement alongside scientific data.
More from Jonathan Haidt
All quotes →Understanding the simple fact that morality differs around the world, and even within societies, is the first step toward understanding your righteous mind.
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Suppose 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
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