OCT 20

15: OCT 20

Assigned

• Haidt, Chapter 7, "The Moral Foundations of Politics" (34)

Note on "Sympathetic Interpretation"

• What is it? Focus on understanding how someone might have come to a view, especially one that you disagree with. How it might be reasonable to them.
• Why would you want to practice it? Various research we have been looking at suggests that we have psychological tendencies that might lead us to discount the reasonableness of someone's view, especially if.... So, you might see sympathetic interpretation as a practice to avoid following automatic inferences (intuitions) that would otherwise color your view (and activate your inner lawyer to supply arguments).
• Shift in question focus in response to a view you disagree with:

• Less on: Is this other compatible with my view? Should I defend my view now? Isn't this about who's right?
• More on: Given what I know about evolutionary psychology, the evolution of social behavior, the nature of moral foundations and political orientation, can I understand the view in question as arising from or being conditioned (note the avoidance of determinist lingo) by a foundation or orientation difference?
• Examples of engaging from sympathetic understanding.
• Not to deny that truth (the best course of action) is still a goal.

Haidt, Chapter 7, "The Moral Foundations of Politics"

• Homo economicus vs. Homo sapiens -- column a b -- shows costs of sapiens psych. commitments "taste buds"
• Note on Innateness and Determinism: "first draft" metaphor; experience revises - pre-wired not hard-wired. innate without being universal. (Note this is the same anti-determinism disclaimer we got from Hibbing & Co.)
• Notes on each foundation:

• Care/Harm -- evolutionary story of asymmetry between m/f interests/strategies in reproduction, attachment theory (read def). current triggers. Baby Max and stuffed animals -- triggers.

• Implicit theory about "re-triggering" note red flag. unexplained. Consider plausibility.

• Fairness/Cheating -- We know we incur obligation when accepting favors. So,... Trivers and reciprocal altruism. "tit for tat" ; equality vs. proportionality. Original and current problem is to build coalitions (social networks) without being suckered (exploited). Focus on your experience of cooperation, trust, and defection (which could just be declining cooperation). Public goods game research also fits here.
• Loyalty/Betrayal -- Tribalism in story of Eagles/Rattlers. liberals experience low emphasis here. (also Zimbardo); note claim that this is gendered 139. sports groupishness is a current trigger. connected to capacity for violence. Liberals can come across as disloyal when they think they are just being critical. Note current culture conflicts over confederate symbols and statues fits here.
• Authority/Subversion -- Cab driver story. Hierarchy in animal and human society; liberals experience this differently also; note cultural work accomplished by the "control role" -- suppression of violence that would occur without hierarchy. Alan Fiske's work on "Authority Ranking" -- suggest legit recognition of difference and, importantly, not just submission. Authority relationships are a two way street (maybe esp for conservs?). Tendency to see UN and international agreements as vote dilution, loss of sov. (Digressive topic: Should we mark authority relationships more?)
• Sanctity/Degradation -- Miewes-Brandes horror. Mill's libertarianism might be evoked. ev.story: omnivores challenge is to spot foul food and disease (pathogens, parasites). (Being an omnivore is messy. One should not be surprised to find that vegetarians often appreciate the cleanliness of their diet.) Omnivores dilemma -- benefit from being able to eat wide range of foods, but need to distinguish risky from safe. neophilia and neophobia. Images of chastity in religion and public debate. understanding culture wars.

• Two part group activity:

• 1. Finding Moral Foundations in your experience: In a small group discussion, take each of the moral foundations and try to examples of either personal or political morality that might be understood more sympathetically using Haidt's Moral Foundations.
• For example, you might recall a reaction your had to something that showed your "trigger" for one of the foundations. Maybe you are liberal and found yourself judging a conservative as uncaring, when MFT might point out that they emphasize fairness also. Or maybe as a conservative you found yourself agreeing with a talk show host that liberals want to control you through big government. MFT might create a more sympathetic interpretation by suggesting that it is a typical concern of liberals to address harms more in the short term.
• Please identify one person in your group to report 1-2 examples from your discussion.

• 2. Bumper Sticker / Slogan reading
• Extending Haidt's examples of using bumper sticks and slogans to illustrate the moral foundations, please use either this link [1] or your own searches of moral and political slogans and bumper stickers.) "Morality slogans" "morals quotes" "political bumper stickers".
• Can you offer an account of the slogan or expression in terms of one or more moral foundations? Look also for expressions that do not fit the foundations.
• Please post the urls from your search in the Shared Content document "Bumper Sticker Links" document.