title: The new synthesis in moral psychology.
abstract: People are selfish, yet morally motivated. Morality is universal, yet culturally variable. Such apparent contradictions are dissolving as research from many disciplines converges on a few shared principles, including the importance of moral intuitions, the socially functional (rather than truth-seeking) nature of moral thinking, and the coevolution of moral minds with cultural practices and institutions that create diverse moral communities. I propose a fourth principle to guide future research: Morality is about more than harm and fairness. More research is needed on the collective and religious parts of the moral domain, such as loyalty, authority, and spiritual purity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA. haidt@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haidt
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000533:Altruism; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009014:Morals; D011593:Psychology, Social; D013850:Thinking