Jon Haidt is one of the world's leading social psychologists and the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU Stern School of Business. Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultural and political divisions. Since 2018, his work has focused on “cancel culture” and declining mental health in Gen Z and Millennial demographics. Haidt has made groundbreaking contributions to the psychology of morality and moral emotions and is the author of several famous and best-selling books including The Righteous Mind and The Coddling of the American Mind. He has also written more than 100 academic articles, which have been cited nearly 100,000 times. Prior to joining NYU, he taught for 16 years in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia.
Jon Haidt Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
Academic History
Haidt is a social psychologist whose research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures, including the cultures of American progressives, conservatives, and libertarians.
His research focuses on morality – its emotional foundations, cultural variations, and developmental courses.
Since 2018, he has been studying the contributions of social media to the decline of teen mental health and the rise of political dysfunction.
He has co-founded a variety of organizations and collaborations that apply moral and social psychology toward that end, including HeterodoxAcademy.org, OpenMindPlatform.org, and EthicalSystems.org.
SELECT RECOGNITIONS
2024 Center for Sustainable Media's Social Media Heroes
2019 Carnegie Mellon University's Carl Sagan Award
2019 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Inductee
2019 Prospect Magazine's World's Top 50 Thinkers
2014 Ethisphere Business' 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics
2013 Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute's Top 100 Global Thought Leaders
2012 Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers
MEDIA & PUBLICATIONS
Haidt is a compelling speaker who has given 4 TED talks where he has tackled topics such as political polarisation, religion and healing fractured societies.
He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis (2006) and of the New York Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind (2012) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018, with Greg Lukianoff).
He has also been featured or quoted in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.