Morality, Politics, and the Truth About Finding Common Ground | Dr. Kurt Gray

In his new book, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground,

Neuroscientist and Moral psychologist Dr. Kurt Gray argues that for the majority of our evolutionary history, humans were more hunted than hunter. 

Which might just be the game changing perspective we need for these times.

Kurt reminds us that in contrast to predators,

Prey animals are hard-wired to scan for threats, and to do everything in our power to protect ourselves from being harmed. 

Fast forward to the present and it becomes a bit easier to understand what’s driving the division, and moral outrage we see each day.

Our shared collective DNA (as a prey species) offering a compelling reminder that we are more alike than we might think.

Rather than intending to destroy each other, most of us are actually just trying to protect ourselves, our families, and members of our communities.

Drawing on groundbreaking research, Dr. Gray doesn’t just offer us a captivating new explanation for our moral outrage, 

He offers us hope. 

As well as some incredibly insightful practices for increasing understanding, and ultimately for finding common ground. 

Perhaps the most basic of these being:

 If you want to understand the morals of the “other side,” you can begin by asking yourself a simple question—what harms do they see?

Today we’ll take a deep dive into these themes as we unpack some of Kurt’s greatest insights about:

What leads to moral outrage, 

What can help diffuse it, 

And how we can find our way back to eachother. 

For more on Kurt, his incredible work at both the Center for the science of Moral Understanding and the Deepest Beliefs Lab, as well as his new book Outraged, check out kurtjgray.com

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About Dr. Kurt Gray:

A social psychologist and an award-winning researcher and teacher, Kurt Gray uses interdisciplinary methods to study our deepest held beliefs and how to bridge moral divides.

Dr. Gray is a Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he directs the Deepest Beliefs Lab and the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Organizational Behavior at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC, where he teaches about organizational ethics and team processes. Dr. Gray received his PhD from Harvard University.

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