“I did a series of classes in psychology (at the institute), .. The students that came to that class had children. And over a period of a few years, they decided they wanted a nursery school, a play group (to watch over their children while they were studying). So in one of the garages that was near where we were having the classes, we established a play group area and the students volunteered to supervise. That eventually led to building a state-licensed nursery school, which was approved by the California department of social welfare.” YearsChildrenStatesPlayWantedSchoolSocialClassWatchesStudyPsychologyGroupsStudentsBuildingPeriodsAreasDecidedSeriesCaliforniaWelfareDepartmentInstituteGarageApprovedNurserySocial WelfareNursery School Author:Dorothy Nolte
“In the cosmology behind psychology, there is no reason for anyone to be here or to do anything... I'am an accident - a result - and therefore a victim... if I'm only a result of past causes, then I'm a victim of those past causes.... or, if you look at it from the sociological perspective, I'm the result of upbringing, class, race, gender, social prejudices, and economics. So I'm a victim again. A result .” IfsLooksReasonPastSocialCausesResultsRaceBehindsClassPsychologyPerspectiveEconomicsPrejudiceVictimGenderAccidentsNo ReasonUpbringingCosmologySociological Author:James Hillman
“The great shift... is the movement away from the value-laden languages of... the "humanities," and toward the ostensibly value-neutral languages of the "sciences." This attempt to escape from, or to deny, valuation is... especially important in psychology... and the so-called social sciences. Indeed, one could go so far as to say that the specialized languages of these disciplines serve virtually no other purpose than to conceal valuation behind an ostensibly scientific and therefore nonvaluational semantic screen.” ImportantPurposeValuesHumanityLanguageSocialBehindsPsychologyMovementDisciplineDenyScreensSocial ScienceValuation Author:Thomas Szasz
“On the contrary, it's because somebody knows something about it that we can't talk about physics . It's the things that nobody knows anything about that we can discuss. We can talk about the weather; we can talk about social problems; we can talk about psychology; we can talk about international finance gold transfers we can't talk about, because those are understood so it's the subject that nobody knows anything about that we can all talk about!” KnowsProblemSocialPsychologySubjectsUnderstoodGoldInternationalContraryPhysicsWeatherFinanceTransfersNobody KnowsSocial Problems Author:Richard P. Feynman
“The first reason for psychology's failure to understand what people are and how they act, is that clinicians and psychiatrists, who are generally the theoreticians on these matters, have essentially made up myths without any evidence to support them; the second reason for psychology's failure is that personality theory has looked for inner traits when it should have been looking for social context.” PeopleShouldFirstsHas BeensMadeMatterReasonSocialSupportPsychologyTheoryPersonalityEvidenceShould HaveMythTraitsShould Have BeenPsychiatristClinicians Author:Naomi Weisstein
“For the fundamental fact of human psychology is that society, instead of remaining almost entirely inside the individual organism as in the case of animals prompted by their instincts, becomes crystallized almost entirely outside the individuals. In other words, social rules, as Durkheim has so powerfully shown, whether they be linguistic, moral, religious, or legal, etc., cannot be constituted, transmitted or preserved by means of an internal biological heredity, but only through the external pressure exercised by individuals upon each other.” HumansMeanFactsIndividualSocialReligiousAnimalMoralCasesPsychologyPressureFundamentalsInstinctEtcInternalsOrganismsHeredity Book:The Moral Judgement of the Child Source: The Moral Judgement of the Child
“The American farmer, whose holdings were not so extensive as those of the grandee nor so tiny as those of the peasant, whose psychology was Protestant and bourgeois, and whose politics were petty-capitalist rather than traditionalist, had no reason to share the social outlook of the rural classes of Europe. In Europe land was limited and dear, while labor was abundant and relatively cheap; in America the ratio between land and labor was inverted.” ReasonAmericaSocialClassPsychologyShareLandEuropeLaborDearTinyNo ReasonFarmersCapitalistOutlookPettyPeasantsBourgeoisProtestantsRatiosInverted Author:Richard Hofstadter
“It is the shortcomings of game theory (as originally formulated) which force the consideration of the role of ethics, of the dynamics of social structure, and of social structure and of individual psychology in situations of conflict.” GamesIndividualForceSocialSituationRolesPsychologyTheoryConflictEthicsStructureConsiderationShortcomingsDynamicsSocial Structure Book:Fights, Games, and Debates Source: Fights, Games, and Debates
“I would in fact tend to have more confidence in the outcome of a democratic decision if there was a minority that voted against it, than if it was unanimous... Social psychology has amply shown the strength of this bandwagon effect.” IfsFactsSocialDecisionPsychologyEffectsDemocraticOutcomesMinoritiesSocial PsychologyBandwagon Author:Jurgen Habermas
“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
“Central to Jungian psychology is the concept of "individuation," the process whereby a person discovers and evolves his Self, as opposed to his ego. The ego is a persona, a mask created and demanded by everyday social interaction, and, as such, it constitutes the center of our conscious life, our understanding of ourselves through the eyes of others. The Self, on the other hand, is our true center, our awareness of ourselves without outside interference, and it is developed by bringing the conscious and unconscious parts of our minds into harmony.” MindPersonsSelfHandsEyeSocialProcessUnderstandingPsychologyAwarenessEgoConsciousConceptsHarmonyEverydayEvolveUnconsciousMaskInteractionPersonaInterferenceThrough The EyesSocial InteractionIndividuationConscious And Unconscious Author:Morris Berman