The Elephant and the Rider - Jonathan Haidt's Positive Psychology

[SearchingforPeace]

I finished the Righteous Mind this morning. I really liked it. I found it approachable and compelling. Organization really was great and he was very clear in his points.

I found his own style fascinating. He is very open as to how he developed his theory and the many times he admitted error was astounding. He seems literally shocked by his findings. I found this enhanced his credibility.

I will let it digest for awhile and maybe read it again.

 

[uumlau]

This is more along the "thinking fast and slow" model, but it's very parallel to the elephant and rider metaphor.

 

[Eilonwy]

Comic Sans!!!!!?????!!!!!!


So, from now on I think I will employ cognitive strain into my posts. Oh, wait. Just reading my posts, as is, is strain enough!

I still miss the darn baseball question, even though I've heard it many times, but the other two answers have become automatic to me.

 

[uumlau]

I still miss the darn baseball question, even though I've heard it many times, but the other two answers have become automatic to me.

I've not bothered exploring the typology connections to the elephant and rider model, here, but I believe what I put in bold above is the essence of Ni. I don't think Ni doms deliberately memorize such things, but see the overall patterns and use those to reason through problems. Ni is fast because the elephant absorbs the abstract patterns and applies them on the fly. I believe Ti, Fi and Si work similarly. No, I don't think it's a 1-to-1 correspondence, because function theory and rider/elephant are based on different metaphors and try to describe different things, but I think it's close enough to be helpful to broaden understanding of both.

The main reason it isn't 1-to-1 is that the "elephant" is so much more than just functions, but includes other aspects of the psyche, including those covered by Enneagram and even others that aren't part of any typology.

 

[uumlau]

 

[uumlau]

 

[SearchingforPeace]

 

[Coriolis]

I've not bothered exploring the typology connections to the elephant and rider model, here, but I believe what I put in bold above is the essence of Ni. I don't think Ni doms deliberately memorize such things, but see the overall patterns and use those to reason through problems. Ni is fast because the elephant absorbs the abstract patterns and applies them on the fly. I believe Ti, Fi and Si work similarly. No, I don't think it's a 1-to-1 correspondence, because function theory and rider/elephant are based on different metaphors and try to describe different things, but I think it's close enough to be helpful to broaden understanding of both.

The video seemed to be suggesting that Ni is the worse approach to problem solving simply because it is quick vs. slow and deliberate.

FWIW, I saw the ball and bat question right away as an equation, which leads quickly and obviously to the correct answer.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

Why social media is terrible for multiethnic democracies - Vox

Vox interview with Haidt after the election.

Some highlights:

...

What is clear is that there are a number of problems in our democracy that are leading to increasing levels of anger, and Trump identified those, tapped into them, and spoke directly to the fears and anger people are feeling.

.....

I’ve been fascinated by how American politics used to look so different from European politics until 2015 and 2016, but that has changed. I think that diversity, immigration, and multiculturalism are right at the heart of the sociological problem in Western democracies, along with the new and pernicious role of social media.

.....

But with the rise of the new left in the 1960s in America and in Europe, a new set of issues comes to the fore. The concerns now are around civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, all of which are important and all of which involve high moral stakes.

....

The new sacred values on the left are about anti-racism and fighting discrimination — this has been at the heart of the progressive projects since the 1960s. And this is the force behind multiculturalism. And the best way to understand this moral worldview is to look at the lyrics to John Lennon’s song “Imagine”: “Imagine there are no countries / it isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too.”

....

Multiculturalism and diversity have many benefits, including creativity and economic dynamism, but they also have major drawbacks, which is that they generally reduce social capital and trust and they amplify tribal tendencies.

.....

A multiethnic society is a very hard machine to assemble and get aloft into the air, and if you get it just right, you can get a multiethnic society to fly, but it easily breaks down. And identity politics is like throwing sand in the gears.

.....

But in a world in which factions are based on race or ethnicity, rather than economic interests, that’s the worst possible world. It’s the most intractable world we can inhabit, and it’s the one that will lead to the ugliest outcome.

...

We have to recognize that we’re in a crisis, and that the left-right divide is probably unbridgeable. And if it is, we’ll have to give up on doing big things in Washington, and do as little as we possibly can at the national level. We’re going to have to return as much as we can to states and localities, and hope that innovative solutions spring from technology or private industry.

.....

Is America a melting pot, or is the melting pot, and the concomitant assimilation, a form of cultural genocide? As a product of assimilated Jews, my mother always told me that America is the promised land for Jews, because it basically just got out of their way and allowed them to assimilate and then succeed. And that was true for many other ethnic groups.

More at the link....

 

[Yuurei]

As for me (not just an ENTJ but an especially thinkey individual) I do not understand what the problem is. The elephant is the animal we are the humans. Just put it in it's place.

Which is also my feeling on people who spoil thier children and cats.