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The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.

— Stanley Milgram Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View (1974)

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More quotes by Stanley Milgram

Each individual possesses a conscience which to a greater or lesser degree serves to restrain the unimpeded flow of impulses destructive to others.

Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View (1974)

Lynch mobs and groups of predatory hoodlums remind us that groups may be vicious in the influence they exert.

Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View (1974)

When an individual wishes to stand in opposition to authority, he does best to find support for his position from others in his group.

Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View (1974)

If you think it is easy to violate social constraints, get onto a bus and sing out loud.

Psychology in Today's World (1975)

Only in action can you fully realize the forces operative in social behavior. That is why I am an experimentalist.

Psychology in Today's World (1975)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Stanley Milgram (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.