The Righteous Mind

1. Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second

The rider (reasoning) is not so much the Platonic charioteer as the elephant's (intuition's) full-time public relations firm.

The social intuitionist model challenges the rationalist view of moral judgment. Our moral decisions are primarily driven by quick, automatic intuitions, with reasoning often serving as post-hoc justification. This explains phenomena like moral dumbfounding, where people struggle to articulate reasons for their moral judgments.

The elephant and rider metaphor illustrates this dynamic:

• The elephant: Intuitive, emotional responses
• The rider: Conscious, rational thought
• The rider's primary role: Justify the elephant's decisions

This model helps explain why:

• Moral arguments often feel futile
• People rarely change their minds based solely on logical arguments
• Appealing to emotions is often more effective in persuasion

2. There's more to morality than harm and fairness

Care and fairness are important, but there are several other moral foundations that matter to people around the world.

Moral Foundations Theory expands our understanding of morality beyond the traditional Western focus on harm and fairness. It identifies six innate and universal moral foundations:

1. Care/harm
2. Fairness/cheating
3. Loyalty/betrayal
4. Authority/subversion
5. Sanctity/degradation
6. Liberty/oppression

Cultural differences in morality arise from varying emphasis on these foundations. For example:

• WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) cultures focus primarily on care and fairness
• Non-WEIRD cultures often place equal or greater importance on loyalty, authority, and sanctity

Understanding these differences can help bridge cultural and political divides, as it allows us to recognize the moral concerns of others even when they differ from our own.

3. Morality binds and blinds

Morality binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle.

Morality as social glue plays a crucial role in human societies by:

• Fostering cooperation within groups
• Creating shared identities and values
• Enabling large-scale coordination

The binding function of morality, however, comes with a cost:

• It can lead to tribalism and intergroup conflict
• It can make us blind to the virtues of other moral matrices
• It can impede our ability to understand and empathize with those who hold different values

This dual nature of morality explains why:

• Political and religious conflicts are often so intractable
• People can be simultaneously virtuous within their group and hostile to outsiders
• Breaking free from our moral bubbles requires conscious effort and exposure to diverse perspectives

4. We are 90% chimp and 10% bee

Human beings are the giraffes of altruism. We're one-of-a-kind freaks of nature who occasionally—even if rarely—can be as selfless and team-spirited as bees.

Multilevel selection theory offers a new perspective on human nature. We evolved through:

• Individual selection: Promoting self-interest (90% chimp)
• Group selection: Fostering cooperation and altruism (10% bee)

This dual nature explains our capacity for both:

• Selfish behavior and rationalization
• Genuine altruism and self-sacrifice for the group

Group-level adaptations in humans include:

• The ability to adopt shared intentionality
• The capacity for collective effervescence
• The hive switch, which allows us to transcend self-interest

Understanding this aspect of human nature can help us:

• Design institutions that harness our groupish tendencies
• Recognize the value of rituals and shared experiences in building social cohesion
• Appreciate the delicate balance between individual and group interests in society

5. Religion is a team sport

Religions are moral exoskeletons. If you live in a religious community, you are enmeshed in a set of norms, relationships, and institutions that work primarily on the elephant to influence your behavior.

Religion as a cultural adaptation serves important social functions:

• Binds people into moral communities
• Facilitates cooperation and trust
• Provides shared rituals and symbols

The evolutionary perspective on religion suggests that:

• Religious beliefs and practices coevolved with human cultures
• They helped solve collective action problems
• They contributed to the success of human groups

The binding function of religion explains why:

• Religious people often have higher levels of social capital
• Secular societies face challenges in replicating some benefits of religion
• Understanding religion requires looking beyond individual beliefs to group-level phenomena

6. Moral matrices vary across cultures and political ideologies

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.

Moral matrices are the shared moral frameworks within cultures or ideological groups. They shape how people perceive and judge moral issues.

Key differences in moral matrices:

• Liberals: Focus primarily on care and fairness
• Conservatives: Emphasize all six moral foundations more equally
• Libertarians: Prioritize liberty and fairness as proportionality

Understanding these differences can help:

• Reduce political polarization
• Improve cross-cultural communication
• Foster empathy for those with different moral priorities

The challenge of moral diversity lies in:

• Recognizing the validity of other moral matrices
• Balancing universal moral concerns with cultural variations
• Finding common ground across ideological divides

7. Moral capital is crucial for societal functioning

Moral capital refers to the resources that sustain a moral community.

Moral capital encompasses the shared values, norms, and institutions that enable societies to function smoothly. It includes:

• Trust between individuals and groups
• Respect for social institutions
• Shared sense of purpose and identity

The importance of moral capital is evident in:

• The success of cooperative enterprises
• The stability of political systems
• The resilience of communities in times of crisis

Challenges to moral capital in modern societies:

• Rapid social and technological change
• Increased individualism and diversity
• Erosion of traditional institutions and norms

Balancing the preservation of moral capital with necessary social progress is a key challenge for contemporary societies.

8. The righteous mind has six taste receptors

The righteous mind is like a tongue with six taste receptors.

The six moral foundations act as innate "taste receptors" for the righteous mind:

1. Care/harm: Sensitivity to suffering and need
2. Fairness/cheating: Concerns about reciprocity and justice
3. Loyalty/betrayal: Valuing group cohesion and faithfulness
4. Authority/subversion: Respect for hierarchy and tradition
5. Sanctity/degradation: Concerns about purity and contamination
6. Liberty/oppression: Resistance to domination and oppression

Implications of this model:

• Morality is innate but culturally variable
• Different cultures and ideologies emphasize different combinations of foundations
• Understanding these foundations can improve moral discourse and cross-cultural understanding

Applications of Moral Foundations Theory:

• Analyzing political rhetoric and appeal
• Designing more effective moral education
• Improving conflict resolution in diverse societies

9. Genes and cultures coevolve to shape our moral instincts

We're all stuck here for a while, so let's try to work it out.

Gene-culture coevolution explains how human morality developed through the interplay of genetic and cultural factors. This process involves:

• Genetic predispositions shaping cultural practices
• Cultural innovations creating new selection pressures

Key aspects of this coevolution:

• It can occur relatively quickly (within thousands of years)
• It explains the universality and diversity of human morality
• It challenges simplistic nature vs. nurture dichotomies

Examples of gene-culture coevolution in morality:

• Development of food taboos and disgust responses
• Evolution of cooperation and altruism
• Emergence of complex moral emotions like shame and guilt

Understanding this process can help us:

• Appreciate the deep roots of our moral intuitions
• Recognize the potential for moral progress and change
• Design interventions that work with, rather than against, our evolved nature

10. The hive switch allows humans to transcend self-interest

We have the ability (under special circumstances) to transcend self-interest and lose ourselves (temporarily and ecstatically) in something larger than ourselves.

The hive switch is a psychological mechanism that enables humans to:

• Experience a sense of oneness with a group
• Temporarily suppress individual self-interest
• Engage in highly cooperative and altruistic behavior

Triggers of the hive switch include:

• Synchronized movement (e.g., dancing, marching)
• Shared experiences of awe or elevation
• Participation in religious or secular rituals
• Collective responses to external threats

The importance of the hive switch in human societies:

• Facilitates large-scale cooperation
• Creates powerful bonding experiences
• Contributes to the success of religions and ideologies

Understanding and harnessing the hive switch can help design more effective:

• Team-building exercises
• Community events and rituals
• Leadership strategies in organizations

11. Durkheimian utilitarianism offers a new perspective on morality

If you don't see that Reagan is pursuing positive values of Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity, you almost have to conclude that Republicans see no positive value in Care and Fairness.

Durkheimian utilitarianism combines:

• The consequentialist focus of utilitarianism
• Durkheim's insights about the social nature of morality

This approach recognizes that:

• Human flourishing depends on social cohesion and moral communities
• Purely individualistic approaches to ethics are incomplete
• The binding foundations (Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity) have positive value

Implications of Durkheimian utilitarianism:

• Policy should consider effects on social cohesion, not just individual welfare
• Seemingly irrational moral rules may serve important social functions
• Balancing individual rights with group-level concerns is crucial

This perspective can help:

• Bridge the gap between liberal and conservative moral thinking
• Design more effective and holistic social policies
• Appreciate the wisdom in traditional moral practices

12. Understanding moral psychology can improve political discourse

Politics ain't beanbag.

Applying moral psychology to politics can:

• Reduce polarization and increase empathy
• Improve the effectiveness of political communication
• Foster more constructive disagreement

Key insights for political discourse:

• Recognize the moral foundations underlying different ideologies
• Appeal to multiple moral foundations, not just care and fairness
• Understand that people's political views are shaped by deep-seated intuitions, not just reason

Strategies for more constructive disagreement:

• Seek to understand others' moral matrices before critiquing them
• Find common ground based on shared moral concerns
• Use moral reframing to make arguments more persuasive across ideological lines

By embracing these insights, we can move towards a political culture that is:

• More respectful of diverse moral perspectives
• Better able to find compromise and common ground
• More effective at addressing complex societal challenges

Last updated: January 22, 2025