---
title: "2 Moral Political Quotes By Jonathan Haidt"
description: "2 Moral Political quotes by Jonathan Haidt. Plus more from Jonathan Haidt and more Moral Political sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg"
---

> [People can believe pretty much whatever they want to believe about moral and political issues, as long as some other people near them believe it, so you have to focus on indirect methods to change what people want to believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever-they-want-to-believe-about/)

[Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg)

> [“I reviewed five areas of research showing that moral thinking is more like a politician searching for votes than a scientist searching for truth: • We are obsessively concerned about what others think of us, although much of the concern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showing-that-moral-thinking-is-more/)

[Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/198/jonathan-haidt-1823_politics_i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showin_618443.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/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Moral Political Quotes By Jonathan Haidt",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "People can believe pretty much whatever they want to believe about moral and political issues, as long as some other people near them believe it, so you have to focus on indirect methods to change what people want to believe.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Jonathan Haidt"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever-they-want-to-believe-about/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“People can believe pretty much whatever they want to believe about moral and political issues, as long as…” — Jonathan Haidt",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“I reviewed five areas of research showing that moral thinking is more like a politician searching for votes than a scientist searching for truth: • We are obsessively concerned about what others think of us, although much of the concern is unconscious and invisible to us. • Conscious reasoning functions like a press secretary who automatically justifies any position taken by the president. • With the help of our press secretary, we are able to lie and cheat often, and then cover it up so effectively that we convince even ourselves. • Reasoning can take us to almost any conclusion we want to reach, because we ask “Can I believe it?” when we want to believe something, but “Must I believe it?” when we don’t want to believe. The answer is almost always yes to the first question and no to the second. • In moral and political matters we are often groupish, rather than selfish. We deploy our reasoning skills to support our team, and to demonstrate commitment to our team.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Jonathan Haidt"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showing-that-moral-thinking-is-more/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/198/jonathan-haidt-1823_politics_i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showin_618443.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/198/jonathan-haidt-1823_politics_i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showin_618443.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/198/jonathan-haidt-1823_politics_i-reviewed-five-areas-of-research-showin_618443.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I reviewed five areas of research showing that moral thinking is more like a politician searching for votes…” — Jonathan Haidt",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/",
            "name": "Moral Political Quotes by Jonathan Haidt",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/543/jonathan-haidt-1823_believe_people-can-believe-pretty-much-whatever_577161.jpg"
            },
            "description": "2 Moral Political quotes by Jonathan Haidt. Plus more from Jonathan Haidt and more Moral Political sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Moral Political",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Jonathan Haidt",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-political/jonathan-haidt/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```