Social Psychology Quotes

I see the last two millennia as laid out in columns, like a reverse ledger sheet. It's as if I'm standing at the top of the twenty-first century looking downwards to 2000. Future centuries float as a gauzy sheet stretching over to the left. I also see people, architecture and events laid out chronologically in the columns. When I think of the year 1805, I see Trafalgar, women in the clothes of that era, famous people who lived then, the building, etc. The sixth to tenth centuries are very green, the Middle Ages are dark with vibrant splashes of red and blue and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are brown with rich, lush colours in the furniture and clothing.

~ Claudia Hammond

All have some artificial badge which the world, and themselves among the first, learn to consider as a genuine characteristic.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Fear of failure is the greatest fear of man. Even the fear of death is fear of failing to continue life.

~ Anup Kochhar

By what criteria can one decide which of a person's countless beliefs are primitive? The essential factor is that they are taken for granted: a person's primitive beliefs represent the basic truths he holds about physical reality, social reality, and himself and his own nature. Like all beliefs, conscious or unconscious, they have a personal aspect: they are rooted in the individual's experience and in the evidence of his senses. Like all beliefs, they also have a social aspect: with regard to every belief a person forms, he also forms some notion of how many other people have the experience and the knowledge necessary to share it with him, and of how close the agreement is among this group. Unlike other beliefs, however, primitive beliefs are normally not open to discussion or controversy. Either they do not come up in conversation because everyone shares them and everyone takes them for granted, or, if they do come up, they are virtually unassailable by outside forces. The criterion of social support is totally rejected; it is as if the individual said: Nobody else could possibly know or have experienced what I have. Or, to quote a popular refrain: Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. A person's primitive beliefs thus lie at the very core of his total system of beliefs, and they represent the subsystem in which he has the heaviest emotional commitment.

~ Milton Rokeach

The more you keep your religious beliefs concealed from others, the lesser religious conflicts occur in the society.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Survive, survive and survive – these are the quintessential laws of Nature. But survive does not always mean being mean.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Sentiments that glorify humanity know no racial distinction.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Call up the ever-pure, the effulgent and the ever-radiant character of true humanism in yourself and in others, and no racism shall have the power to thrive in such society even for a few seconds.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Tolstoy was a Caucasian, Gandhi was an Asian, and Martin Luther King Jr. was a Negro, yet all of their hearts were inspired by the one idea of nonviolent resistance. King received it from Gandhi, Gandhi received it from Tolstoy, and Tolstoy received it from Christ.

~ Abhijit Naskar

It is character that should be the sole measure of judgement in the society of thinking humanity, and nothing short of that would do.

~ Abhijit Naskar

If not as a true human, let me tell you as a Biologist, color of the skin does not define an individual’s intelligence – it does not define an individual’s ambitions - it does not define an individual’s dreams – and above all, it does not define an individual’s character.

~ Abhijit Naskar

In the biological sense, race does not exist.

~ Abhijit Naskar

​On top of the government-hierarchy you need an unpolluted group of scientists to give a nation the best direction.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The entire idea of sin, is based on books of the dead people. It is a sociological invention founded on textual fanaticism.

~ Abhijit Naskar

If origin defines race, then we are all Africans – we are all black.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Good and evil are both within us. And when our primitive ancestors humanized these natural qualities of the mind, they got two completely opposite supernatural characters. One was the merciful lord almighty and the other was the wicked devil.

~ Abhijit Naskar

What are the final lessons learned? I came to the conclusion that the most powerful human motive by far is the striving for attachment to loved ones in perpetuity. Humans will do anything for this, including blowing themselves (and others) to pieces. I learned that tribalism is universal. It may start with the attachment to another (typically, the mother and disinterest in those who are not her), and it may be furthered by the division of in-group as those we recognize and out-group as the rest, but our capacity for symbolism established in- and outgroups in us all, and we view their actions completely differently. We need, if we are to survive, a sense both of humanity as a tribe and of humanity’s potential for radical violence. If we delude ourselves that we are the civilized entity we appear to be on the surface, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, only with more powerful and devastating weapons.

~ Donald G. Dutton

Never underestimate the power of a tweet.

~ Germany Kent

A Film has the potential to kindle such a spark of inspiration in an individual that it can alter the course of human progress.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Entertain, but also, give the viewer something to think about.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Healthy entertainment does not evoke raw emotions in the mind of a viewer only to make them wreak havoc, rather it guides those emotions in a healthy direction.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Healthy entertainment is a beautiful blend of stimuli that can connect with the viewer at a sentimental level, then sow the seeds of a certain idea or feed the mind with inspiration and courage. In short, healthy entertainment does not evoke raw emotions in the mind of a viewer only to make them wreak havoc, rather it guides those emotions in a healthy direction. This leads to not only an entertained viewer, but also an inspired soul. And that should be the purpose of film-making, and indeed the entire entertainment industry, rather than feeding the general population with garbage.

~ Abhijit Naskar

A choice architect has the responsibility for organizing the context in which people make decisions. [T]here are many parallels between choice architecture and more traditional forms of architecture. A crucial parallel is that there is no such thing as a “neutral” design. [A]s good architects know, seemingly arbitrary decisions, such as where to locate the bathrooms, will have subtle influences on how the people who use the building interact. [S]mall and apparently insignificant details can have major impacts on people’s behavior. [I]n many cases, the power of these small details comes from focusing the attention of users in a particular direction. Good architects realize that although they can’t build the perfect building, they can make some design choices that will have beneficial effects. And just as a building architect must eventually build some particular building, a choice architect must [for example] choose a particular arrangement of food options at lunch, and by so doing she can influence what people eat. She can nudge.

~ Richard H. Thaler

You can tell a lot about the intellectual and moral progress of a nation’s citizens, by the quality and nature of the films they watch.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The character of the architectural forms and spaces which all people habitually encounter are powerful agencies in determining the nature of their thoughts, their emotions and their actions, however unconscious of this they may be.

~ Hugh Ferriss

People have all day to talk about what makes them ordinary. It turns out that they want to share what makes them weird.

~ Derek Thompson

Once upon a time, there was a civilization in the eastern side of the world. It was one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet that existed during that time.This civilization was the glorious Indus valley civilization. No, I am not talking about India. I am talking about the land of greatness that got lost in time. Today, in the same geographical location of that great civilization, we have a piece of earth, which is known as “India”. But do not mistake it to be the same glorious land that existed thousands of years ago, along with other magnificent civilizations, such as the Greeks, the Mayans, the Egyptians, the Babylonians etc.

~ Abhijit Naskar

I am pain-stricken to say, since the moment I was born, I have found nothing extraordinary in this ancient land of greatness to be exceptionally proud of. I am not a proud Indian. India at its present condition has given me no reason to feel proud.However, I do feel proud of the ancient Indians, just like I feel proud of the ancient Greeks, the Mayans, the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians and so on. Scientists are beyond borders, just like the ancient scientists of India, whom you prefer to call as sages.

~ Abhijit Naskar

As a sign of utmost gratitude for his contributions to the Indian society in restoring equal rights of the citizens, I confer him (B.R. Ambedkar) the title “Martin Luther King Jr. of India.

~ Abhijit Naskar

To the traditional Indians, terms such as “intercourse”, “penis”, “vagina”, “clitoris”, “semen”, “masturbation”, “breasts”, etc. are exclusive possessions of the night. The traditional Indians perceive these terms as something “dirty”. No matter how old they look, they really never grow up to talk and discuss about sex.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The majority of India's adult and elderly population is too medieval to think as civilized, rational and progressive human beings.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The overload of useless ceremonials and worship have crippled the whole nation. If you want to do good to your nation and yourself, then throw away your ancient ceremonials as far as possible.

~ Abhijit Naskar

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 G. Zimbardo

If you put good apples into a bad situation, you’ll get bad apples.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo

The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo

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.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo

Human behavior is incredibly pliable, plastic.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo

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.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo

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 G. Zimbardo

Situational variables can exert powerful influences over human behavior, more so that we recognize or acknowledge.

~ Philip G. Zimbardo