Dr. Jonathan Haidt is a highly influential social psychologist, author, and Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His seminal research examines the intuitive foundations of morality and how these moral differences—across progressive, conservative, and libertarian cultures—divide people. His core mission is to apply moral and social psychology to help people understand each other, live productively, and learn from their moral differences.
Haidt earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years, establishing himself as a leading academic in the field of social and moral psychology. His influential books include The Happiness Hypothesis and the New York Times bestseller The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, which provides a crucial framework for understanding contemporary political dysfunction. His research has been cited nearly 100,000 times, underscoring his deep academic impact.
More recently, Haidt has focused on the alarming societal impact of technology. His book, The Coddling of the American Mind (co-authored with Greg Lukianoff), analyzed how bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. His newest work, the #1 New York Times bestseller The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, provides an urgent, data-driven analysis of social media’s contributions to the severe decline of teen mental health. A highly decorated scholar, Haidt was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019 and was named one of the world’s "Top 50 Thinkers" by Prospect magazine. He has given four TED talks, translating his complex psychological research into accessible public discourse. His presentations offer corporate and educational audiences critical strategies for fostering constructive dialogue, understanding the roots of political and social polarization, and building healthier, more productive organizational cultures.
