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If you want to change a person, you've got to change the situation.

Philip Zimbardo

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Philip Zimbardo
Age: 91
Born: 1933
Born: March 23
Non-Fiction Writer
Psychologist
Social Psychologist
University Teacher
New York City
New York
Philip George Zimbardo
Philip G. Zimbardo
Person
Situation
Change
Persons

More quotes by Philip Zimbardo

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Being hurt personally triggered a curiosity about how such beliefs are formed.
Philip Zimbardo
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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 they easily can.
Philip Zimbardo
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Academic success depends on research and publications.
Philip Zimbardo
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I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?
Philip Zimbardo
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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.
Philip Zimbardo
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Bullies are often people who are shy and can't make friends easily, so, as the theme of the movie 'A Bronx Tale' tells us, it is better to be feared if you can't be loved.
Philip Zimbardo
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Our time is brief, and it will pass no matter what we do. So let us have purpose in spending it. Let us spend it so that our time matters to each of us, and matters to all those whose lives we touch.
Philip Zimbardo
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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?
Philip Zimbardo
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Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful government.
Philip Zimbardo
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I've always been curious about the psychology of the person behind the mask.
Philip Zimbardo
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Bullying is an evil because it not only destroys the life of the kid who's bullied, but also makes everyone in the class who knows this is going on feel guilty for not doing anything.
Philip Zimbardo
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The most dramatic instances of directed behavior change and mind control are not the consequence of exotic forms of influence, such as hypnosis, psychotropic drugs, or brainwashing, but rather the systematic manipulation of the most mundane aspects of human nature over time in confining settings.
Philip Zimbardo
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Prejudice and discrimination have always been a big part of my life. When I was 6, I got beat up and called dirty Jew boy because they thought I looked Jewish.
Philip Zimbardo
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The greatest gift that you can give to others and to yourself is time. Embrace the gift of time whether you give it or receive it.
Philip Zimbardo
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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.'
Philip Zimbardo
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After doing psychology for half a century, my passion for all of it is greater than ever.
Philip Zimbardo
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I was discriminated against because I was Jewish, Italian, black and Puerto Rican. But maybe the worst prejudice I experienced was against the poor. I grew up on welfare and often had to move in the middle of the night because we couldn't pay the rent.
Philip Zimbardo
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Boys' brains are being digitally rewired for change, novelty, excitement and constant arousal. That means they're totally out of sync in traditional classes, which are analog, static, interactively passive.
Philip Zimbardo
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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. What it is for which we strive is up to each of us. The important thing is that we strive toward something.
Philip Zimbardo
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There are no limits to what I would do to make my classes exciting, interesting, unpredictable.
Philip Zimbardo