Essays
Featured essays by Jonathan Haidt, in English
Featured essays in Spanish
Featured essays in languages other than English and Spanish
The Case for Phone-Free Schools (originally published on the After Babel Substack)
(June 6th, 2023)
I discuss how smartphones impede learning, stunt relationships, and lessen belonging.
AI Is About To Make Social Media (Much) More Toxic (with Eric Schmidt)
(May 5th, 2023)
I lay out four imminent threats and five doable reforms of AI.
How to Defuse a Classroom Conflict: Make It More Complex (with Caroline Mehl)
(November 30th, 2022)
Offers five strategies to help students break through binary thinking, drawn from our experience with the Perspectives program, from the Constructive Dialogue Institute.
When Truth and Social Justice Collide, Choose Truth (Originally published on heterodox: the blog)
(September 23rd, 2022)
Explains why I resigned from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology after they added a mandatory social justice statement as a requirement for presenting research at the annual conference. I explained how this was a violation of our quasi-fiduciary duty to the truth.
Yes, Social Media Really Is Undermining Democracy
(July 28th, 2022)
Meta responded to my Babel essay, and I respond to Meta.
California Has an Opportunity To Shape How the World Protects Children Online (with Beeban Kidron)
(May 19th, 2022)
Why California should enact the UK’s age appropriate design code.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
(April 11th, 2022)
Explains how social media dissolved the mortar of society and brought us into the era of fragmentation.
Social Media Is Riskier for Kids Than ‘Screen Time’ (with Jean Twenge and Kevin Cummins)
(February 16th, 2021)
(February 16th, 2021)
How to Have Fun With That Relative Whose Opinions You Cannot Stand This Thanksgiving (with Caroline Mehl)
(November 24th, 2021)
Offers advice for engaging in productive conversations with our relatives and friends.
(November 24th, 2021)
Offers advice for engaging in productive conversations with our relatives and friends.
The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls
(November 21st, 2021)
Analyzes the published evidence and shows that the preponderance of it indicates that social media is causing real damage to teen girls.
(November 21st, 2021)
Analyzes the published evidence and shows that the preponderance of it indicates that social media is causing real damage to teen girls.
If We’re Serious About Saving American Democracy, This Voting System Might Be the Key (with Katherine Gehl)
(November 1st, 2021)
Explains final-five voting, an electoral system that prioritizes healthy competition—with incentives for innovation, results, and accountability.
(November 1st, 2021)
Explains final-five voting, an electoral system that prioritizes healthy competition—with incentives for innovation, results, and accountability.
The Polarization Spiral (with Greg Lukianoff)
(October 29th, 2021)
Explains how the right’s monomania and the left’s Great Awokening feed each other
(October 29th, 2021)
Explains how the right’s monomania and the left’s Great Awokening feed each other
Monomania Is Illiberal and Stupefying
(October 1st, 2021)
Argues that educational institutions have a duty to oppose monomania and to lead students out of its stultifying embrace
(October 1st, 2021)
Argues that educational institutions have a duty to oppose monomania and to lead students out of its stultifying embrace
This Is Our Chance To Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap (with Jean Twenge)
(July 31st, 2021)
Examines how smartphone access and the internet may help to explain the global rise in teenage loneliness in school which began after 2012
(July 31st, 2021)
Examines how smartphone access and the internet may help to explain the global rise in teenage loneliness in school which began after 2012
3 Things Parents Need To Know Now About Kids and Tech (with Nir Eyal)
(May 10th, 2021)
Offers guidance for parents to help their kids develop a healthy relationship with digital technologies
(May 10th, 2021)
Offers guidance for parents to help their kids develop a healthy relationship with digital technologies
Eight in Ten Americans Are Concerned About Partisanship. Here’s How ‘The Unum Test’ Can Reunite America (with John Avlon, Mickey Edwards, and Maya Macguineas)
(April 13th, 2021)
Provides a solution to help Americans move forward together to find common ground and common purpose
(April 13th, 2021)
Provides a solution to help Americans move forward together to find common ground and common purpose
The New York Times Surrendered to an Outrage Mob. Journalism Will Suffer For It (with Pamela Paresky, Nadine Strossen, and Steven Pinker)
(May 14th, 2020)
Scrutinizing the Effects of Digital Technology on Mental Health (Dialogue with Nick Allen)
(February 10th, 2020)
A collegial debate on whether social media has adverse outcomes on adolescent mental health
(February 10th, 2020)
A collegial debate on whether social media has adverse outcomes on adolescent mental health
Why It Feels Like Everything Is Going Haywire (with Tobias Rose-Stockwell) (December 2019)
Explores the many ways in which today’s social-media platforms create conditions that may be hostile to democracies success
Explores the many ways in which today’s social-media platforms create conditions that may be hostile to democracies success
By Mollycoddling Our Children, We’re Fuelling Mental Illness in Teenagers (January 10th, 2019)
Reviews trends in adolescent mental health and offer advice for parents on raising antifragile kids
Reviews trends in adolescent mental health and offer advice for parents on raising antifragile kids
How To Play Our Way to a Better Democracy (with Greg Lukianoff) (September 1st, 2018)
Democracy demands teamwork, compromise, respect for rules and a willingness to engage with other opinionated, vociferous individuals. It also demands practice. This article explains why the playground may be the best place to practice
Democracy demands teamwork, compromise, respect for rules and a willingness to engage with other opinionated, vociferous individuals. It also demands practice. This article explains why the playground may be the best place to practice
City Journal
The Age of Outrage: What The Current Political Climate Is Doing to Our Country and Our Universities
(German translation is here) (December 17th, 2017)
This essay is an edited version of my Wriston Lecture for the Manhattan Institute, delivered on November 15th
(German translation is here) (December 17th, 2017)
This essay is an edited version of my Wriston Lecture for the Manhattan Institute, delivered on November 15th
The Fragile Generation (with Lenore Skenazy) (October 26th, 2017)
Explores how bad policy and paranoid parenting are making kids “too safe to succeed”
Explores how bad policy and paranoid parenting are making kids “too safe to succeed”
Trump Breaks a Taboo—and Pays the Price (August 21st, 2017)
Makes the case that taboo and sacredness are among the most important words needed to understand Charlottesville and its aftermath
Why It’s a Bad Idea to Tell Students Words Are Violence (July 18th, 2017)
Explains why the idea that “speech is sometimes violence” on college campuses will make students more anxious and more willing to justify harm
Explains why the idea that “speech is sometimes violence” on college campuses will make students more anxious and more willing to justify harm
It’s Disadvantaged Groups That Suffer Most When Free Speech Is Curtailed on Campus (With Musa Al-Gharbi) (July 8th, 2017)
Explains why we agree with Harvard’s President, Drew Faust, who warned in her commencement address that any effort to limit some speech “opens the dangerous possibility that the speech that is ultimately censored may be our own”
Explains why we agree with Harvard’s President, Drew Faust, who warned in her commencement address that any effort to limit some speech “opens the dangerous possibility that the speech that is ultimately censored may be our own”
Intimidation is the New Normal on Campus (April 26th, 2017)
Explains why any speaker who arouses a protest may now be at risk of a beating
Explains why any speaker who arouses a protest may now be at risk of a beating
How to Get Beyond our Tribal Politics [Cover Story in Saturday Review] (November 5th, 2016)
Written just before the 2016 election, offering ideas from moral psychology and ancient cultures for turning down hatred and living with people who hold different political beliefs.
Written just before the 2016 election, offering ideas from moral psychology and ancient cultures for turning down hatred and living with people who hold different political beliefs.
When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism (July 10th, 2016)
As nationalist movements were expanding in Europe, in 2016, I wrote this to explain the psychological forces that drive voters to support nationalism, forces that more “cosmopolitan” globalists often misunderstand
As nationalist movements were expanding in Europe, in 2016, I wrote this to explain the psychological forces that drive voters to support nationalism, forces that more “cosmopolitan” globalists often misunderstand
Hard Truths About Race on Campus [Cover Story in Saturday Review] (May 6th, 2016)
Explains why some of the tactics used on college campuses to reduce racial divisions sometimes backfire
Explains why some of the tactics used on college campuses to reduce racial divisions sometimes backfire
How Concept Creep is Closing Down Minds (April 10th, 2016)
I wrote this with Australian psychologist Nick Haslam, to explain his important idea of “concept creep” and how it plays out on university campuses in the UK and USA
I wrote this with Australian psychologist Nick Haslam, to explain his important idea of “concept creep” and how it plays out on university campuses in the UK and USA
Moral psychology: An exchange. [Response to T. Shaw] (April 7th, 2016)
The ethics of globalism, nationalism, and patriotism. Minding Nature, 9:3.
A deeper exploration of the psychology and morality of globalists and nationalists, going beyond my earlier essay on this in The American Interest
A deeper exploration of the psychology and morality of globalists and nationalists, going beyond my earlier essay on this in The American Interest
Donald Trump supporters think about morality differently than other voters. (February 5th, 2016)
Uses Moral Foundations Theory to help explain why Americans vote for the candidates they vote for, in primary elections where they have a choice within their party
Uses Moral Foundations Theory to help explain why Americans vote for the candidates they vote for, in primary elections where they have a choice within their party
The strongest prejudice was identified. Edge.org, annual question.
Explains why cross-partisan prejudice should become a focus of concern and research
Explains why cross-partisan prejudice should become a focus of concern and research
The Coddling of the American Mind [Cover story] (September 2015)
This is the most widely read and most influential article I have ever written. It developed Greg Lukianoff’s insight that many college students were engaging in the same cognitive distortions he had learned how to stop doing when he learned how to do Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
This is the most widely read and most influential article I have ever written. It developed Greg Lukianoff’s insight that many college students were engaging in the same cognitive distortions he had learned how to stop doing when he learned how to do Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The top 10 reasons American politics is so broken (January 7th, 2015)
Explains that the destructive dynamic between Democrats and Republicans is the result of at least 10 trends that have played out over the past half-century
Explains that the destructive dynamic between Democrats and Republicans is the result of at least 10 trends that have played out over the past half-century
Wonderful vs. Wonder-Free Companies (March 5th, 2014)
Can you teach businessmen to be ethical? (January 13th, 2014)
Your personality makes your politics (January 9th, 2014)
Includes a brief on-line and indirect measure of political orientation
Includes a brief on-line and indirect measure of political orientation
Of Freedom and Fairness (Spring 2013)
Gives my analysis of the new front line in the American culture war
Gives my analysis of the new front line in the American culture war
Moral values and the fiscal cliff (November 16th, 2012)
With Hal Movius. Offers advice on how to negotiate when sacred values make compromise much more difficult.
With Hal Movius. Offers advice on how to negotiate when sacred values make compromise much more difficult.
Romney, Obama, and the new culture war over fairness (October 8th, 2012)
OpEd: We need a little fear (November 7th, 12)
Presents the “asteroids” metaphor, and the claim that each side sees some of the threats facing America but is blind to others
Presents the “asteroids” metaphor, and the claim that each side sees some of the threats facing America but is blind to others
Reasons matter (when intuitions don’t object) (October 7th, 2012)
A response to two essays from philosophers — Michael Lynch and Gary Gutting–critiquing my claims about reason and philosophy
A response to two essays from philosophers — Michael Lynch and Gary Gutting–critiquing my claims about reason and philosophy
America’s Painful Divide (September 2012)
A condensed version of ch. 12. of The Righteous Mind
A condensed version of ch. 12. of The Righteous Mind
Look how far we’ve come apart (September 18th, 2012)
Born this way? Nature, nurture, narratives, and the making of our political personalities [Cover story] (May 2012)
Why we love to lose ourselves in religion (April 1st, 2012)
Forget the money, follow the sacredness (March 19th, 2012)
How to get the rich to share the marbles (February 20th, 2012)
The moral foundations of Occupy Wall Street (October 20th, 2011)
OpEd: Why we celebrate a killing (May 7th, 2011)
Review of Anthony Appiah’s “The Honor Code (October 24th, 2010)
What the Tea Partiers really want (October 16th, 2010)
What is wrong with those Tea Partiers? [On Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball] (February 2010)
Moral Psychology and the Healthcare Debate (on TED Blog) (2009)
Obama’s moral majority (February 2009)
What have you changed your mind about? [reprinted in: J. Brockman (Ed.). New York: HarperCollins] (2008)
The baby boomers will soon retire. [Reprinted in: J. Brockman (Ed.). What are you optimistic about? New York: Harper Perennial] (2007)
Honey I shrunk the President (December 16th, 2007)
The Spirit of Dharmacracy (January 14th, 2007)
Free Inquiry
Humans are Hive Creatures Free Inquiry, 26, p.47. (2006)
Higher Ground (January/February issue, 2006, p.49)
Wired to be inspired (March 1st, 2005)
Featured profiles of Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt on the ‘National Crisis’ of Gen Z (written by Tunku Varadarajan) (December 30th, 2022)
‘All the Green Shoots Are Dead’ (written by Guy Denton) (August 6th, 2022)
Jonathan Haidt: ‘We got fooled into thinking liberal democracy is easy’ (written by Jemima Kelly) (April 29th, 2022)
Jonathan Haidt: “Soy Extremadamente Pesimista Respecto al Futuro de Las Democracias” (written by Darío Prieto) (February 7th, 2022)
Jonathan Haidt is Trying to Heal America’s Divisions (written by Peter Wehner) (May 24th, 2020)
Jonathan Haidt on the Cultural Roots of Campus Rage (written by Bari Weiss) (April 14th, 2017)
The Thought Leader Interview: Jonathan Haidt (written by Ann Graham) (February 1st, 2016)
Jonathan Haidt Decodes the Tribal Psychology of Politics (written by Marc Parry) (January 29th, 2012)