Quotessence
Home / Authors / Philip Zimbardo Books
Philip Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo Books

Psychologist

Related Quotes

“Whoever has the power to label others as evil is automatically, or reflexively, the good person. Good people label bad people as evil. And once you do that, then it demonizes them. You don't negotiate with evil. You don't sit down at the table with the devil and say, "Okay, let's work this out." What you want to do is destroy evil. Every Catholic kid every night says, or should say, "Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil." And so you've got to go to God to help you deal with evil rather than your State Department or your negotiators.”

PeopleWantShouldPersonsStatesHelpingKidsNightEvilDealsDevilOkayCatholicTablesWhat You WantTemptationLabelsDepartmentGood PeopleEvery NightGood PersonBad People
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“Part of what we want to do with the Heroic Imagination Project is to get kids to think about what it means to be a hero. The most basic concept of a hero is socially constructed: It differs from culture to culture and changes over time. Think of Christopher Columbus. Until recently, he was a hero. Now he's a genocidal murderer! If he were alive today, he'd say, "What happened? I used to be a hero, and now people are throwing tomatoes at me!”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantMeanKidsTodayUsedCultureImaginationAliveHappenedHeroProjectsConceptsUsed To BeThrowingHeroicMurdererLive For TodayTomatoesColumbusChanges Over Time
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“Our sense of identity is in large measure conferred on us by others in the ways they treat or mistreat us, recognize or ignore us, praise us or punish us. Some people make us timid and shy; others elicit our sex appeal and dominance. In some groups we are made leaders, while in others we are reduced to being followers. We come to live up to or down to the expectations others have of us.”

PeopleWayMadeSexLeaderGroupsIdentityExpectationsTreatsPraiseAppealsShyFollowersDominanceSex AppealMistreat
Book:The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil
Create image

“We all like to think that the line between good and evil is impermeable--that people who do terrible things, such as commit murder, treason, or kidnapping, are on the evil side of this line, and the rest of us could never cross it. But the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram studies revealed the permeability of that line. Some people are on the good side only because situations have never coerced or seduced them to cross over.”

PeopleThinkingEvilSidesLinesSituationStudyTerribleCrossesMurderPrisonExperimentsCommitGood And EvilTerrible ThingsTreasonKidnappingStanfordEvil Side
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“In one sense, the Stanford prison study is more like a Greek drama than a traditional experiment, in that we have humanity, represented by a bunch of good people, pitted against an evil-producing situation. The question is, does the goodness of the people overwhelm the bad situation, or does the bad situation overwhelm the good people?”

PeopleDoeHumanityEvilSituationStudyDramaGoodnessPrisonExperimentsBunchTraditionalGreekGood PeopleStanfordBad SituationsGreek Drama
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“Most of us hide behind egocentric biases that generate the illusion that we are special. These self-serving protective shields allow us to believe that each of us is above average on any test of self-integrity. Too often we look to the stars through the thick lens of personal invulnerability when we should also look down to the slippery slope beneath our feet.”

ShouldBelieveLooksSelfStarsBehindsFeetSpecialIntegrityIllusionTestsAverageServingThickLensesShieldsProtectiveSlipperySlopesSelf ServingEgocentricSlippery SlopeAbove AverageInvulnerability
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“The [Stanford Prison Experiment] was readily approved by the Human Subjects Research committee because it seemed like college kids playing cops and robbers, it was an experiment that anyone could quit at any time and minimal safeguards were in place. You must distinguish hind sight from fore sight, knowing what you know now after the study is quite different from what most people imagined might happen before the study began.”

PeopleKnowsHumansDifferentMightHappensKidsKnowingStudySubjectsCollegeResearchSightPrisonQuittingExperimentsCopCommitteesApprovedRobbersStanfordKids PlayingCops And Robbers
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“As we have come to understand the psychology of evil, we have realized that such transformations of human character are not as rare as we would like to believe. Historical inquiry and behavioral science have demonstrated the "banality of evil" -- that is, under certain conditions and social pressures, ordinary people can commit acts that would otherwise be unthinkable.”

PeopleBelieveHumansCharacterCertainEvilSocialPsychologyConditionsOrdinaryTransformationPressureHistoricalCommitInquiryOrdinary PeopleUnthinkableBanalitySocial Pressure
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“We want to believe we are good, we are different, we are better, or we are superior. But this body of social-psychological research--and there are obviously many more experiments in addition to mine and Milgram's--shows that the majority of good, ordinary, normal people can be easily seduced, tempted, or initiated into behaving in ways that they say they never would. In 30 minutes we got them stepping across that line.”

PeopleWayWantBelieveDifferentShowsBodySocialLinesMinutesMinesNormalResearchOrdinaryMajorityExperimentsSuperiorsPsychologicalTemptedPsychological Research
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“There was zero time for reflection. We had to feed the prisoners three meals a day, deal with the prisoner breakdowns, deal with their parents, run a parole board. By the third day I was sleeping in my office. I had become the superintendent of the Stanford county jail. That was who I was: I'm not the researcher at all. Even my posture changes--when I walk through the prison yard, I'm walking with my hands behind my back, which I never in my life do, the way generals walk when they're inspecting troops.”

WayHandsRunningThreeParentSleepWalksDealsBehindsWalkingOfficeReflectionThirdsPrisonBoardsMealsJailZeroPrisonerTroopsYardsCountyBreakdownPostureResearchersSleeping InParoleStanfordBehind My BackSuperintendents
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“For years I've been interested in a fundamental question concerning what I call the psychology of evil: Why is it that good people do evil deeds? I've been interested in that question since I was a little kid. Growing up in the ghetto in the South Bronx, I had lots of friends who I thought were good kids, but for one reason or another they ended up in serious trouble. They went to jail, they took drugs, or they did terrible things to other people. My whole upbringing was focused on trying to understand what could have made them go wrong.”

PeopleTryingYearsLittlesMadeReasonWholeKidsEvilGrowing UpPsychologyGrowingTroubleSeriousTerribleDrugFundamentalsSouthDeedsFocusedJailGood PeopleLittle KidTerrible ThingsUpbringingGhettoLots Of FriendsBronxKids Growing Up
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“The "Lucifer Effect" describes the point in time when an ordinary, normal person first crosses the boundary between good and evil to engage in an evil action. It represents a transformation of human character that is significant in its consequences. Such transformations are more likely to occur in novel settings, in "total situations," where social situational forces are sufficiently powerful to overwhelm, or set aside temporally, personal attributes of morality, compassion, or sense of justice and fair play.”

FirstsHumansPersonsPlayCharacterActionEvilForceSocialJusticePowerfulCompassionSituationNovelEffectsMoralityNormalOrdinaryConsequenceFairsCrossesTransformationSignificantBoundariesSettingSettingsGood And EvilAttributesLuciferFair Play
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“This is the woman who stopped the Stanford Prison Study. When I said it got out of control, I was the prison superintendent. I didn't know it was out of control. I was totally indifferent. She came down, saw that madhouse and said, "You know what, it's terrible what you're doing to those boys. They're not prisoners, they're not guards, they're boys, and you are responsible." And I ended the study the next day. The good news is I married her the next year.”

KnowsYearsSaidNextBoysStudySawsTerribleMarriedNewsResponsiblePrisonPrisonerIndifferentNext DayGood NewsNext YearStanfordMadhousesSuperintendents
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“Whether we consider Nazi Germany or Abu Ghraib prison, there were many people who observed what was happening and said nothing. At Abu Ghraib, one photo shows two soldiers smiling before a pyramid of naked prisoners while a dozen other soldiers stand around watching passively. If you observe such abuses and don't say, "This is wrong! Stop it!" you give tacit approval to continue. You are part of the silent majority that makes evil deeds more acceptable.”

PeopleIfsGivingSaidTwoShowsEvilHappeningsAbuseMajorityPrisonSilentSoldierDeedsNakedGermanyPrisonerDozenAcceptableApprovalNaziPyramidsNazi GermanyTacitAbu GhraibSilent Majority
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image