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 punis….

As a result of the prison study, I really became more aware of the central role of power in our lives. I became more aware of the power I have as a t….

There are no limits to what I would do to make my classes exciting, interesting, unpredictable..

The world is, was, will always be filled with good and evil, because good and evil is the yin and yang of the human condition..

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….

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 ph….

Heroes are those who can somehow resist the power of the situation and act out of noble motives, or behave in ways that do not demean others when the….

Before I knew that a man could kill a man, because it happens all the time. Now I know that even the person with whom you've shared food, or whom you….

It was God who created hell as a place to store evil. He didn't do a good job of keeping it there though..

Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. Given the fo….

Research shows that the deciscions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there is minority dissent than when it is absent..

I'm saying to be a hero it means you step accross the line and are willing to make a sacrifice, so heroes always are making a sacrifice. Heroes alway….

Ideas for my first experiments in human aggression came from discussions we had in a research seminar about William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies.'.

Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange….

Most of us hide behind egocentric biases that generate the illusion that we are special. These self-serving protective shields allow us to believe th….

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 ob….

Coming from New York, I know that if you go by a delicatessen, and you put a sweet cucumber in the vinegar barrel, the cucumber might say, "No, I wan….

We like to think there is this core of human nature – that good people can't do bad things, and that good people will dominate over bad situations. I….

Where can you find purpose? Like success and happiness, our purpose exists in the present, and we constantly strive toward the future to maintain it.….