--- title: "2 Coherence Quotes By Jonathan Haidt" description: "2 Coherence quotes by Jonathan Haidt. Plus more from Jonathan Haidt and more Coherence sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg" --- > [Happiness is not the shallow state of feeling pleased and chipper all the time. Happiness is the state of a human being that has achieved cross-level coherence within herself, and between herself and the people, challenges, and institutions around her.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-feeling-pleased-and-chipper-all/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg) > [“The word “coherence” literally means holding or sticking together, but it is usually used to refer to a system, an idea, or a worldview whose parts fit together in a consistent and efficient way. Coherent things work well: A coherent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/the-word-coherence-literally-means-holding-or-sticking-together-but/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/jonathan-haidt-1823_coping-mechanisms_the-word-coherence-literally-means-holdi_1754992.jpg) ## More by Jonathan Haidt > [Love and work are to people what water and sunshine are to plants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/love-and-work-are-to-people-what-water-and-sunshine-are-to-plants/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [You can see the rider serving the elephant when people are morally dumbfounded. They have strong gut feelings about what is right and wrong,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/you-can-see-the-rider-serving-the-elephant-when-people-are-morally/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [Congress is full of good, decent, smart people who have devoted their lives to public service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/congress-is-full-of-good-decent-smart-people-who-have-devoted-their/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [Once you understand the power of stimulus control, you can use it to your advantage by changing the stimuli in your environment and avoiding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/once-you-understand-the-power-of-stimulus-control-you-can-use-it-to/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [“The ethic of autonomy is based on the idea that people are, first and foremost, autonomous individuals with wants, needs, and preferences. People should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/the-ethic-of-autonomy-is-based-on-the-idea-that-people-are-first-and/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [I got interested in the American culture war back in 2004, and it's one of the only growth stocks I've ever invested in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/i-got-interested-in-the-american-culture-war-back-in-2004-and-it-s/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [I think of myself as a social scientist. In order to get hired and to get promoted, we're forced to declare a disciplinary and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/i-think-of-myself-as-a-social-scientist-in-order-to-get-hired-and-to/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [“We should not expect individuals to produce good, open-minded, truth-seeking reasoning, particularly when self-interest or reputational concerns are in play. But if you put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/we-should-not-expect-individuals-to-produce-good-open-minded-truth/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation - a force for construction and destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/the-most-powerful-force-ever-known-on-this-planet-is-human/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [It only takes twenty generations of selective breeding to create large differences or appearance and behavior in other mammals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/it-only-takes-twenty-generations-of-selective-breeding-to-create/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [If you think half of America votes badly because they are stupid or religious, you are trapped in a matrix ... Take the red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/if-you-think-half-of-america-votes-badly-because-they-are-stupid-or/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [“Our minds have the potential to become righteous about many different concerns, and only a few of these concerns are activated during childhood. Other”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/our-minds-have-the-potential-to-become-righteous-about-many-different/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [People who devote their lives to studying something often come to believe that the object of their fascination is the key to understanding everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/people-who-devote-their-lives-to-studying-something-often-come-to/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [“Nonetheless, if you are trying to change an organization or a society and you do not consider the effects of your changes on moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/nonetheless-if-you-are-trying-to-change-an-organization-or-a-society/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [If you have a personality predisposed to liberalism, you might gravitate more to the artsy crowd or the anti-establishment crowd. And then those peers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/if-you-have-a-personality-predisposed-to-liberalism-you-might/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/jonathan-haidt/#itemlist", "name": "2 Coherence Quotes By Jonathan Haidt", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Happiness is not the shallow state of feeling pleased and chipper all the time. Happiness is the state of a human being that has achieved cross-level coherence within herself, and between herself and the people, challenges, and institutions around her. Happiness comes from between.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Haidt" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-feeling-pleased-and-chipper-all/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Happiness is not the shallow state of feeling pleased and chipper all the time. Happiness is the state of a…” — Jonathan Haidt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The word “coherence” literally means holding or sticking together, but it is usually used to refer to a system, an idea, or a worldview whose parts fit together in a consistent and efficient way. Coherent things work well: A coherent worldview can explain almost anything, while an incoherent worldview is hobbled by internal contradictions. … Whenever a system can be analyzed at multiple levels, a special kind of coherence occurs when the levels mesh and mutually interlock. We saw this cross-level coherence in the analysis of personality: If your lower-level traits match up with your coping mechanisms, which in turn are consistent with your life story, your personality is well integrated and you can get on with the business of living. When these levels do not cohere, you are likely to be torn by internal contradictions and neurotic conflicts. You might need adversity to knock yourself into alignment. And if you do achieve coherence, the moment when things come together may be one of the most profound of your life. … Finding coherence across levels feels like enlightenment, and it is crucial for answering the question of purpose within life. People are multilevel systems in another way: We are physical objects (bodies and brains) from which minds somehow emerge; and from our minds, somehow societies and cultures form. To understand ourselves fully we must study all three levels—physical, psychological, and sociocultural. There has long been a division of academic labor: Biologists studied the brain as a physical object, psychologists studied the mind, and sociologists and anthropologists studied the socially constructed environments within which minds develop and function. But a division of labor is productive only when the tasks are coherent—when all lines of work eventually combine to make something greater than the sum of its parts. For much of the twentieth century that didn’t happen — each field ignored the others and focused on its own questions. But nowadays cross-disciplinary work is flourishing, spreading out from the middle level (psychology) along bridges (or perhaps ladders) down to the physical level (for example, the field of cognitive neuroscience) and up to the sociocultural level (for example, cultural psychology). The sciences are linking up, generating cross-level coherence, and, like magic, big new ideas are beginning to emerge. Here is one of the most profound ideas to come from the ongoing synthesis: People gain a sense of meaning when their lives cohere across the three levels of their existence.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Haidt" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/the-word-coherence-literally-means-holding-or-sticking-together-but/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/jonathan-haidt-1823_coping-mechanisms_the-word-coherence-literally-means-holdi_1754992.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/jonathan-haidt-1823_coping-mechanisms_the-word-coherence-literally-means-holdi_1754992.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/jonathan-haidt-1823_coping-mechanisms_the-word-coherence-literally-means-holdi_1754992.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The word “coherence” literally means holding or sticking together, but it is usually used to refer to a…” — Jonathan Haidt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/jonathan-haidt/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/jonathan-haidt/", "name": "Coherence Quotes by Jonathan Haidt", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coherence/jonathan-haidt/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/jonathan-haidt-1823_challenges_happiness-is-not-the-shallow-state-of-fe_1355502.jpg" }, "description": "2 Coherence quotes by Jonathan Haidt. 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