Can’t We All Disagree More Constructively by Jonathan Haidt

definition of ideology: “A set of beliefs about the proper order of society and how it can be achieved.”

identical twins reared in separate households (because of adoption) usually turn out to be very similar, whereas unrelated children reared together (because of adoption) rarely turn out similar to each other, or to their adoptive parents; they tend to be more similar to their genetic parents. Genes contribute, somehow, to just about every aspect of our personalities.

One study found that women who called themselves liberals as adults had been rated by their nursery school teachers as having traits consistent with threat insensitivity and novelty-seeking. Future liberals were described as being more curious, verbal, and self-reliant, but also more assertive and aggressive, less obedient and neat.

Liberals stand up for victims of oppression and exclusion. They fight to break down arbitrary barriers (such as those based on race, and more recently on sexual orientation). But their zeal to help victims, combined with their low scores on the Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity foundations, often lead them to push for changes that weaken groups, traditions, institutions, and moral capital.

Emphasizing differences makes many people more racist, not less.

Nowadays the most liberal Republican is typically more conservative than the most conservative Democrat.

In 1976, only 27 percent of Americans lived in “landslide counties” — counties that voted either Democratic or Republican by a margin of 20 percent or more. But the number has risen steadily; in 2008, 48 percent of Americans lived in a landslide county.

Liberals are experts in care; they are better able to see the victims of existing social arrangements, and they continually push us to update those arrangements and invent new ones.

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