To be a hero you have to learn to be a deviant — because you're always going against the conformity of the group.

The Stanford prison experiment came out of class exercises in which I encouraged students to understand the dynamics of prison life.

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...

Evil is knowing better, but willingly doing worse.

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.

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

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.