The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

The final moral principle is : Morality binds and blinds. Human nature is mostly selfish, but with a groupish overlay. Strategic cooperation is a big help when groups compete with groups. Competition favors groups composed of team players with few or no shirkers. Along the way we found that people who helped others were more likely to get help when they needed it.
Culture can impact genetic evolution. Think of it as gene-culture coevolution. Studies show that evolution can be fast with selective breeding. Natural selection works at multiple levels simultaneously, sometimes including groups of organisms. When we developed the ability to share intentions and other mental representations, it enabled us to collaborate, divide labor, and develop shared norms.

10. The Hive Switch

Human beings appear to be conditional hive creatures. This is the ability to transcend self-interest in favor of group-interest. This adaptation makes groups more cohesive and successful. The emotion of awe is one that can trigger the hive switch, making you feel like you are part of a whole. This implies that there is a group-level selection as part of human evolution.
An organization that activates our hivish nature can activate pride, loyalty, and enthusiasm. These are bonds of trust that help get more work done. It may be more of a slider switch than an off/on switch. It can make everyone feel like family with shared values and common identity. You can drown out race differences in a sea of similarities, shared goals, and mutual interdependence. This argues against forming internal competition. Taken to extremes, it can be bad as in Nazi Germany. A nation of hives is a happy nation. Hives are crucial for the health of individuals and communities. Hivish groups are smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern. The right relationships are important.

11. Religion Is a Team Sport

Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices. They are not rational, but that hasn’t stopped them. Believing, doing, and belonging are three complementary yet distinct aspects of religiosity. Religions are sets of cultural innovations that spread to the extent that they make groups more cohesive and cooperative. Religions evolved to be more effective when it comes to the benefit of the group. They help groups cohere, solve free rider problems, and win the competition for group-level survival.
Secular communities are less likely to survive. Communities that demand more sacrifice tend to last longer. Religions exist for people to achieve together what they cannot achieve along. Gods and religions, in sum, are group-level adaptations for producing cohesiveness and trust. Religious people volunteer more and are more generous than secular people. They even give more to secular charities. They are better neighbors and better citizens.

12. Can’t We All Disagree More Constructively?

Keep in mind this book was written in 2012, and when Jonathan says things like there has been a decline in the number of people calling themselves moderates or centrists, it sounds like today. More people view members of the other party as permanent enemies and candidates spend more time on opposition research. Social class is no longer a predictor of ideology as there are billionaires and poor people on both sides. Self-interest doesn’t seem to matter as much.
Liberals prefer novelty, change, and new experiences, while conservative do less so. Conservatives have deeper feelings of respect for authority, allegiance to one’s group, and purity of self, whereas liberals emphasize human suffering and social fairness. Although both sides want what’s best for society, both sides can go too far. Liberals, for example are reflexively anti-business. Sometimes they are right as in being against lead in gasoline. On the other hand, pushing welfare increased out of wedlock births and weakened black families. (You don’t help the bees by destroying the hive.)
In 1994, Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House and told members to keep their families in their districts. Prior to this they moved to Washington where republican and democrat families mixed and became friends. This made bipartisan governing more likely. Thanks to gerrymandering, most districts are not competitive. What is needed is for all of us to do a better job listening to the other side and tring to see key issues in another light.

Conclusion

Think of yourself as being a small rider on a very large elephant. Thinking this way will make you more patient with other people. Beware of anyone who declares that there is one true morality for all people. We all have the capacity to transcend self-interest and become simply a part of the whole. When you talk to someone with different views, work to find a few points of commonality. Perhaps you both want the same outcomes but disagree about how to get there. The key is to develop a bit of trust. We’re all stuck here for a while, so let’s try to work it out. Thanks Jonathan.

Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the author the The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. He lives in New York City. In 2024, he published The Anxious Generation, arguing that the rise of smartphones and overprotective parenting has led to a “rewiring” of childhood and increased mental illness. It is summarized here. Follow him on X @JonHaidt. His website is jonathanhaidt.com.