It's hard to gross out a libertarian.

AuthorTierney, John
PositionSoundbite - Jonathan Haidt - Interview

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In February, the New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt spoke at the Museum of Sex in New York City. At his website, YourMorals.org, he has asked 300,000 people a variety of questions about politics and personality. Following the speech--which was hosted by the Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this magazine--New York Times science columnist John Tierney interviewed Haidt about his research on political ideologies, his views on morals in politics, and why libertarians aren't easily disgusted.

Q: What distinguishes libertarians? You have probably the greatest database on the libertarian personality.

A: What we find is that libertarians are by far the highest on systemizing and by far the lowest on empathizing. [These characteristics are generally associated with sex differences; men are higher on systematizing and women are higher on empathizing.] And that's even true within sexes. Women who become libertarians are higher on systemizing and lower on empathizing than women who don't. Liberals and conservatives aren't actually that different on these. This explains the great strengths of libertarians and why they do so well in academics and in think tanks. They're very theoretical, logical, rational people. We also have some logic problems [on the battery of tests that we ask people to take]. Libertarians solve them better than anyone else.

Q: You also find that libertarians are low on disgust. Should libertarians be trying to figure out these disgust feelings to be able to understand [adversaries]?

A: Learning to empathize better-to "assume a virtue if you have it not, for use almost can change the stamp of nature"--might be strategically an effective way to be able to talk to people who are not dispositionally libertarian and get them to actually be involved in libertarian projects.

In a less Machiavellian vein, think about whether [disgust] actually does anything for us, or whether it's some...

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