Psychology
Political gridlock in the United States is nothing new, but it can be helpful to review the current state of affairs under a new theoretical rubric: that of moral foundations theory. Moral foundations theory focuses on the moral underpinnings of political values, political philosophies, and political behaviors (ie. voting, and/or lawmaking). The gulf between liberals and conservatives in the United States may be insurmountable, but it would be helpful to gain understanding of the underpinnings of the core arguments in order to create a more effective and responsive system of government. As Graham, Haidt & Nosek (2009) point out, liberals and conservatives clash because they do not share the same vision for America. Yet diversity is inevitable, and even desirable in America. Therefore, to resolve political and cultural gridlock and promote shared values and ideals, it is imperative to discover and capitalize on the points of convergence in divergent moral foundations.
The moral foundations of liberals and conservatives find their common grounds in the two dyads of harm/care and fairness/reciprocity (Graham, Haidt & Nosek, 2009). As Graham, Haidt & Nosek (2009) point out, conservatives tend to clutter their moral foundations with competing dyads such as ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity. The result is an hypocritical political platform that remains untenable under logical scrutiny, but which holds a powerful emotional sway over conservatives. Rozin et al. (1999) found that emotions are indeed a better predictor of moral judgment than reasoning. One possible...
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