Abstract: It seems like the world is becoming more divided. People around the world are taking sides. This is nowhere more evident than in the United States where the last presidential election left the citizens asking serious questions about those on the "other side." You hear, for example, "What's wrong with those people? They don't seem to think logically. How can we have a conversation when they are so resistant to hearing other points of view. The truth is, we are all biased. The truth is, we filter all information. The truth is, we reach conclusions using our own version of logic and once we get there, we're really reluctant to change. This is a big problem and I don't even have the slightest hope of solving it, but I have discovered some interesting research that has helped me develop better ways of listening and communicating and I would like to share that in this workshop. The research is based on Moral Foundations Theory. I hope to provide enough of an overview so that participants can begin to practice it and leave with a new set of tools for overcoming conflict.
Learning Outcomes: - Participants will learn the basics of Moral Foundations Theory and will have had a chance to apply the theory in a scenario with a small group.
- In brief, the 5 foundations of morality are as follows:
- (1) Harm/care. We have strong feelings about those who care for others or cause them harm. Liberals care more about this than conservatives.
- (2) Fairness/reciprocity. Liberals care more about this than conservatives.
- (3) In-group/loyalty. The foundation of cooperation. Conservatives care more about this than liberals.
- (4) Authority/respect. Conservatives care more about this than liberals.
- (5) Purity/sanctity. A lot of this is about what you're willing to touch, or put into your body. Conservatives care more about this than liberals.
- When issues arise that are important to us we justify our stance by using the values that are most important to us. For liberals: (1) and (2) above, for conservatives: (3), (4), (5).
- Experiments show that after receiving this information, both liberals and conservatives still argue their points by basing their reasoning on the values that they hold dear, when the research shows they would be more effective if they used the values that are most important to the other. This, of course, is true for any point of view. We're often told to put ourselves in the other person's shoes and to see the world as the other person sees it. The astounding thing about this particular research is that people are more convincing when they base their arguments on the other person's point of view but they refuse to do it. We obviously need practice. That's what this workshop will be all about. We will pair up and practice arguing from both sides. One argument will be easy but the other argument will be very, very difficult. Good for the brain.
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