Psychology’s Liberal Bias
Has social psychology become a community that is bound together by liberal values and then blind to any ideas or findings that threaten our sacred values? Yes, says Jonathan Haidt.
If it’s true that morality binds and blinds, then no partisan community is based in reality. If a group circles around sacred values, they’ll evolve into a tribal moral community. They will embrace science whenever it supports their sacred values, but they’ll ditch it or distort it as soon as it threatens a sacred value. You can see this on the right with global warming denialism. They’re protecting their sacralized free markets. But when sacred values are threatened, the moral force field turns on, and beliefs fall into line. We become intuitive theologians.
