Home > Author > Philip G. Zimbardo
41 " It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable. —Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind "
― Philip G. Zimbardo , The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
42 " If you don't think much of yourself, why should I, since you obviously know yourself better than anyone else? "
― Philip G. Zimbardo
43 " Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “The line between good and evil is in the center of every human heart. "
44 " Power said to the world, “You are mine.” The world kept it prisoner on her throne. Love said to the world, “I am thine.” The world gave it the freedom of her house. —Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds22 "
45 " Heroism can be defined as having four key features: (a) it must be engaged in voluntarily; (b) it must involve a risk or potential sacrifice, such as the threat of death, an immediate threat to physical integrity, a long-term threat to health, or the potential for serious degradation of one’s quality of life; (c) it must be conducted in service to one or more other people or the community as a whole; and(d) it must be without secondary, extrinsic gain anticipated at the time of the act. Heroism in service of a noble idea is usually not as dramatic as "
46 " Evil consists in intentionally behaving in ways that harm, abuse, demean, dehumanize, or destroy innocent others—or using one’s authority and systemic power to encourage or permit others to do so on your behalf. "
47 " It's not a question of getting more moral soldiers. Instead it's a question of recognizing how the situation of war (and the cultural institutions/practices of the military that we have designed to "prepare" people for that situation) creates monsters out of us all. "
48 " humanity can be transformed by power and by powerlessness. Underlying "
49 " recognizing the early signs of toxicity in our leaders can enable us to take preventive medicine, not passively imbibe their seductive poison.33 "
50 " However, even psychologists are people, subject to the same dynamic processes at a personal level that they study at a professional level. "
51 " One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. – Abraham Maslow, humanist psychologist "
― Philip G. Zimbardo , Man Disconnected: How technology has sabotaged what it means to be male
52 " The fundamental human need to belong comes from the desire to associate with others, to cooperate, to accept group norms. However, the SPE shows that the need to belong can also be perverted into excessive conformity, compliance, and in-group versus out-group hostility. The need for autonomy and control, the central forces toward self-direction and planning, can be perverted into an excessive exercise of power to dominate others or into learned helplessness. "
53 " conditions that make us feel anonymous, when we think that others do not know us or care to, can foster antisocial, self-interested behaviors. My "
54 " The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. "
55 " The avoidance of reality has pervaded our language and even the way we understand what’s happening around us, as the late comedian George Carlin pointed out. People have invented a ‘soft language’ to insulate themselves from the truth, he said, ‘toilet paper became bathroom tissue … The [garbage] dump became a landfill … Partly cloudy became partly sunny. "
56 " Most of us hide behind egocentric biases that generate the illusion that we are special. "
57 " A life well lived is the best antidote to that fatal truth. Be active, not a passive worrywart. Find magic in the moment, joy in making someone smile. Listen to a lover’s sigh; look into the dancing eyes of a child you made feel special. Most of all, marvel at the wonder that eons of evolutionary time and all your unique experiences have joined to comprise the symphony that is YOU. "
― Philip G. Zimbardo , The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life
58 " The ideal of the military hero is clearly echoed in other contexts, and it includes those who routinely risk their health and lives in the line of duty, such as police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. "
59 " That seduction or initiation into evil can be understood by recognizing that most actors are not solitary figures improvising on the empty stage of life. Rather, they are often an ensemble of different players, on a stage with various props and changing costumes, scripts, and stage directions from producers and directors. "
60 " People are less rational than they are adept at rationalizing--explaining away discrepancies between their private morality and actions contrary to it. "