Jonathan Haidt is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the psychological bases of morality across different cultures and political ideology. His book, The Happiness Hypothesis, examines ten "great ideas" dating from antiquity and their continued relevance to the happy life.
His Moral Foundations Theory looks at the way morality varies between cultures and identifies five fundamental moral values shared to a greater or lesser degree by different societies and individuals.
These are:
Care for others, protecting them from harm. (He also referred to this dimension as Harm.)
Fairness/Justice, treating others equally.
Loyalty to your group, family, nation. (He also referred to this dimension as Ingroup.)
Respect for tradition and legitimate authority. (He also referred to this dimension as Authority.)
Purity, avoiding specific things, foods, actions, etc.
Haidt found that Americans who identified as liberals tend to value care and fairness considerably higher than loyalty, respect, and purity. Self-identified conservative Americans value all five values more equally, though at a lower level across the five than the liberal concern for care and fairness. Both groups gave care the highest over-all weighting, but conservatives valued fairness the lowest, whereas liberals valued purity the lowest. Similar results were found across the political spectrum in other countries.
. Quick reference from Wikipedia
I happened upon this as I look at and think about politics in and involving the US. I'm wondering who is most likely to be able to deliver what they are selling, and do I want to vote/buy that.
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