Well researched and written book on the various aspects of human decision making. we are often capable of deceiving ourselves because of how our brains have evolved. Premise is there is an emotional component of decision making and a more deliberative component of decision making. Example that stuck with me was comparing our emotional/evolutionary functioning as an elephant and the more deliberate functioning as a boy riding an elephant. Not infrequently the elephant goes where it wants leaving the boy to try to rationalize why. Well worth a read. For further exploration of the topic of why we behave and think the way we do I'd recommend Thinking Fast and Slow.

The argument of the book is quite compelling: politics and religion divide people because people are guided by deeply different moral convictions. These convictions are not rationally determined, but rather shaped by genetics and environment. People are like riders (reason) being carried along by elephants (intuition). Public discourse would be more civil if we would talk to other people's elephants (i.e., gain their trust) rather than shout at their riders. You'll have to read the book for more details!

An eye-opening book. Very easy to read, very interesting and underpinned by an expanse of well sourced material. Disagree with someone politically? Can't understand why religious people have sometimes blind faith? Does someone seem so different and so alien to you that you feel you could never understand how they tick? Honestly, this book can give you a bloody good insight into yourself, your neighbour and just about every other person on the planet and how we all operate in our own moral frameworks.

It does exactly what the subtitle suggests and explains the root causes of divisions between religions and politics and many other social challenges. I read it, then I studied it, and bought his earlier and latest books. We may be able to save humanity before it destroys itself with this knowledge. Haidt has some great YouTube videos. They'll make you want to buy his books if this is an area of interest to you.