The Psychology of Liberals and Conservatives

It's election season in the U.S., and the campaigning between the Democrats and Republicans is fiercer than ever. Now, here at GeekDad, we prefer to steer clear of partisan politics, so this posting is not going to tap-dance into that minefield; instead, we’re going to take a look at the more interesting subject of the psychology of conservative and liberal viewpoints. And regardless of which way you lean politically, I'm pretty sure that once we're finished, you'll concede that both the left and the right have perfectly reasonable world views, and that the human mind is an intriguingly subtle organ.

The main focus of this posting is Jonathan Haidt's TED Talk, The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives, so settle back and prepare for a little profound insight into human nature:

If you watch the video, you'll see that Haidt's thesis is that we humans all have five foundations of morality – five sources of intuitions and emotions that drive everything we do:

• Harm/Care
• Fairness/Reciprocity
• In-Group/Loyalty
• Authority/Respect
• Purity/Sanctity

Both conservatives and liberals all agree on the first two points; but the real trouble comes on the final three. As Haidt said in regard to those points, "We can say that liberals have a kind of a two-channel, or two-foundation morality. Conservatives have more of a five-foundation, or five-channel morality."

Now, that math may make it sound as if liberals are less moral than conservatives, but Haidt is careful to point out that it's not as simple as that:

Liberals reject three of these foundations. They say "No, let's celebrate diversity, not common in-group membership." They say, "Let's question authority." And they say, "Keep your laws off my body."

Liberals have very noble motives for doing this. Traditional authority, traditional morality can be quite repressive, and restrictive to those at the bottom, to women, to people that don't fit in. So liberals speak for the weak and oppressed. They want change and justice, even at the risk of chaos.

Conservatives, on the other hand, speak for institutions and traditions. They want order, even at some cost to those at the bottom.

So once you see this – once you see that liberals and conservatives both have something to contribute, that they form a balance on change versus stability – then I think the way is open to step outside the moral matrix.

That last part is the most important part of everything Haidt has to say in his talk, by the way. Recognizing the basis for human morality is academically interesting, but the important thing is to put this insight into use in some way. And Haidt has an answer for that, too:

A lot of the problems we have to solve are problems that require us to change other people. And if you want to change other people, a much better way to do it is to first understand who we are – understand our moral psychology, understand that we all think we're right – and then step out, even if it's just for a moment, step out of the moral matrix, just try to see it as a struggle playing out, in which everybody does think they're right, and everybody, at least, has some reasons – even if you disagree with them – everybody has some reasons for what they're doing. Step out. And if you do that, that's the essential move to cultivate moral humility, to get yourself out of this self-righteousness, which is the normal human condition.

So, what does all of this have to do with being a GeekDad? Well, given that it is election season, the Geeklings are likely to have questions about the entire process and why there is so much animosity between the two political extremes. As a good parent, your job is to help your kids understand the world better, so that means you're going to have to explain the underlying motivations of those extremes. And now that you understand the five foundations of morality, you can explain it to your kids, too. If you do a good job of it, and emphasize that both points of view are valid and valuable, then you'll have made the world just a little bit better. Good luck....