Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt is an American social psychologist whose research examines moral judgment, political polarization, and adolescent development. His books connect psychological research to contemporary debates about politics and social media.

Moral foundations theory: A theory that proposes several intuitive foundations underlie human moral judgments across cultures and political groups. Haidt co-developed this framework to explain why people with different politics emphasize different moral concerns.
The Righteous Mind: A 2012 book by Jonathan Haidt about moral psychology and the psychological foundations of political and religious differences. It presents his account of how moral intuitions shape political disagreement.
Craig Joseph: An American psychologist whose research with Jonathan Haidt contributed to the development of moral foundations theory. Their collaboration helped connect anthropological accounts of morality with psychological research.
Rationalist model of moral judgment: An account of morality that gives conscious reasoning a central role in producing moral judgments. It contrasts with Haidt’s emphasis on intuition as the usual starting point for moral judgment.
Social intuitionist model: A model in which moral judgments usually arise from quick intuitions, with conscious reasoning often following afterward. Haidt used this model to challenge accounts that place deliberate reasoning first in moral judgment.
The Coddling of the American Mind: A 2018 book by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff about campus culture, safetyism, and young adults’ psychological resilience. Haidt applies ideas about moral and social psychology to disputes over campus norms.
Jesse Graham: A social psychologist whose research with Jonathan Haidt helped develop and test moral foundations theory. Graham was a key collaborator in turning the theory into a research program.
Social constructivism: The view that social processes and cultural contexts shape how people understand and organize knowledge or reality. It highlights explanations of morality that stress social learning and cultural context.
Moral dumbfounding: The persistence of a moral judgment after a person cannot provide a reason supporting it. Haidt’s studies used this pattern to illustrate how intuition can precede conscious explanation.
The Anxious Generation: A 2024 book by Jonathan Haidt arguing that smartphone-based childhood has contributed to rising adolescent mental-health problems. It develops his recent argument about social media, phones, and adolescent well-being.

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