The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that the difference between good and bad behavior is not always clear. Situations can influence people to do things they wouldn't normally do, even if those actions are wrong. Pressure from the environment or other people can make it easy for someone to cross that line, even if they are usually a good person.
About Philip Zimbardo
Philip Zimbardo is an American psychologist who is best known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment. He has authored numerous psychology textbooks and other notable works, and is the initiator and president of the Heroic Imagination Project.
Tags
More quotes from Philip Zimbardo
Evil is knowing better, but willingly doing worse.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
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.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
The level of shyness has gone up dramatically in the last decade. I think shyness is an index of social pathology rather than a pathology of the individual.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
One can’t live mindfully without being enmeshed in psychological processes that are around us.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford prison experiment came out of class exercises in which I encouraged students to understand the dynamics of prison life.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Human behavior is incredibly pliable, plastic.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
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?
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
I started studying shyness in adults in 1972. Shyness operates at so many different levels. Out of that research came the Stanford shyness clinic in 1977.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
My early childhood prepared me to be a social psychologist. I grew up in a South Bronx ghetto in a very poor family. From Sicilian origin, I was the first person in my family to complete high school, let alone go to college.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
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.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Careers in virtually all academic disciplines are fostered by being a superstar who knows more about one subject than anyone else in the world.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
There are no limits to what I would do to make my classes exciting, interesting, unpredictable.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Situational variables can exert powerful influences over human behavior, more so that we recognize or acknowledge.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
After doing psychology for half a century, my passion for all of it is greater than ever.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Time perspective is one of the most powerful influences on all of human behavior. We’re trying to show how people become biased to being exclusively past-, present- or future-oriented.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
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.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Academic success depends on research and publications.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
At North Hollywood High School, I was shunned by everyone. I would sit down in the cafeteria, and students would get up from the table and walk away. They thought I was from the Mafia.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
What happens when good people are put into an evil place? Do they triumph or does the situation dominate their past history and morality?
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
Being hurt personally triggered a curiosity about how such beliefs are formed.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment
What troubles me is the Internet and the electronic technology revolution. Shyness is fueled in part by so many people spending huge amounts of time alone, isolated on e-mail, in chat rooms, which reduces their face-to-face contact with other people.
American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment