S2 Episode 15: The Anxious Generation Goes to College with Jonathan Haidt
From Coddling to Crisis. Today, we trace the trajectory of student fragility from playgrounds to classrooms.
In today's episode, our host, John Tomasi, talks with social psychologist and best-selling author Jonathan Haidt about his new book, The Anxious Generation. The book delves into the increasing levels of anxiety and emotional distress experienced by teens today.
During their discussion, Haidt emphasizes the significant shift from a play-based childhood to a smartphone-centric upbringing, which has led to a rise in mental health issues, particularly after the adoption of Instagram in 2012. The pair will explore how these changes have affected higher education and campus life. They will discuss the reinforcement of emotional reasoning, fragility, and self-censorship fostered in academic settings. Together, they will examine the critical issues and potential pathways for creating robust, supportive, and intellectually vibrant university communities. Join us to learn more about this critical topic.
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.
Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultural and political divisions. Haidt is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis (2006) and of the New York Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind (2012) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018, with Greg Lukianoff). He has given four TED talks. In 2019 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since 2018 he has been studying the contributions of social media to the decline of teen mental health and the rise of political dysfunction. Haidt has co-founded a variety of organizations and collaborations that apply moral and social psychology toward that end, including Heterodox Academy, The Constructive Dialogue Institute, and EthicalSystems.org.
Related Podcasts
Your generosity supports our non-partisan efforts to advance the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement to improve higher education and academic research.