Why We’re All So Outraged

How can you think that? What’s wrong with you? Where are your morals? These are the questions that so many people want to ask each other right now, whether in relation to politics, global conflicts, or the recent murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Some people have sharply condemned the murder — while others seem to be siding with the gunman.

When we’re in the midst of passionate arguments — as friends, as neighbors, or as a country — we all feel like WE are in the right. We are occupying the moral high ground. We are defending all that’s good and decent in the world. But here’s the problem — the people on the other side of the argument feel the same way.

Psychologist Kurt Gray explores what drives our feelings of righteous indignation in his forthcoming book “Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground.”

We talk to Gray about the origins of moral outrage, why he thinks that outrage is always related to fear and perceived harm, and how human connection can be the antidote to our anger.