Join us for the January 2026 meeting of the Clinical Psychology Book Club!
We will be reading Outraged: Why We Fight about Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground, a new book by Dr. Kurt Gray. Gray joined the Department of Psychology in Autumn 2025 and is a professor of social psychology and faculty director of the Collaborative on the Science of Polarization and Misinformation (C-SPAM). Discussing his book is a great way to welcome new faculty and discuss a very pertinent topic.
Dr. Gray will be joining our discussion of the book. Everyone from all Ohio State psychology programs is welcome to attend, and dinner will be provided.
About Outraged (From Penguin Random House): It’s easy to assume that liberals and conservatives have radically different moral foundations. In Outraged, Kurt Gray showcases the latest science to demonstrate that we all have the same moral mind—that everyone’s moral judgments stem from feeling threatened or vulnerable to harm.
We all care about protecting ourselves and the vulnerable. Conflict arises, however, when we have different perceptions of harm. We get outraged when we disagree about who the “real” victim is, whether we’re talking about political issues, fights with our in-laws, or arguments on the playground.
In this fascinating and insightful tour of our moral minds, Gray tackles popular myths that prevent us from understanding ourselves and those around us. While it is commonly believed that our ancestors were apex predators, Gray argues that for the majority of our evolutionary history, humans were more hunted than hunter. This explains why our minds are hard-wired to perceive threats, and provides surprising insights on the scientific origins of our values and beliefs. Though we might think ourselves driven by objective reasoning, Gray unveils new research that finds our moral judgments are based on gut feelings rather than rational thought, and presents a compelling reminder that we are more alike than we might think.
Drawing on groundbreaking research, Gray provides a captivating new explanation for our moral outrage, and unpacks how to best bridge divides. If you want to understand the morals of the “other side,” ask yourself a simple question—what harms do they see?
About Kurt Gray: Kurt Gray is the incoming Weary Foundation Endowed Chair in Social Psychology. He is a social psychologist who studies our moral minds and how best to bridge political divides. Gray directs the Deepest Beliefs Lab, which explores the psychology of morality, politics, religion and AI. He also directs the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding, which explores new ways to reduce polarization. He is the author of Outraged: Why we Fight about Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground.