20th-century Psychologist Quotes

We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves

Robert Cialdini

The facts of the matter are that we have known for a long time that diagnoses are often not useful or reliable, but we have nevertheless continued to use them. We now know that we cannot distinguish insanity from sanity.

The making of thoughts is the most common instance of human participation in the creative act.

How can we create a cultural legacy of happiness? Let other people matter.

Christopher Peterson (psychologist)

Chance is commonly viewed as a self-correcting process in which a deviation in one direction induces a deviation in the opposite direction to restore the equilibrium. In fact, deviations are not "corrected" as a chance process unfolds, they are merely diluted.

An affective response more appropriate to another's situation than one's own.

A society or culture which is disposed to view the world in Manichean terms will be more vulnerable to control by propaganda.

Your imaginings can have as much power over you as your reality, or even more.

You're going to die soon enough anyway; even if it's a hundred years from now, that's still the blink of a cosmic eye. In the meantime, live like a scientist - even a controversial one with only an ally or two in all the world - and treat life as a grand experiment, blood, sweat, tears and all. Bear in mind that there's no such thing as a failed experiment - only data.

When a couple gets to the last stage, one or both partners may have an affair. But an affair is usually a symptom of a dying marriage, not the cause. The end of that marriage could have been predicted long before either spouse strayed.

Yoga is an exquisite form of bodywork that eliminates the residue that has become lodged in the tissue.

Richard Miller (psychologist)

Genuineness requires listening through both verbal and nonverbal channels.

Joseph Michelli

Dreams are a reservoir of knowledge and experience yet they are often overlooked as a vehicle for exploring reality. In the dream state our bodies are at rest, yet we see and hear, move about and are even able to learn. When we make good use of the dream state it is almost as if our lives were doubled: instead of a hundred years we live to be two hundred — Tibetan Buddhist Tarthang Tulku from

Stephen LaBerge

The emotional findings, then, suggest that to gain the most benefit from writing about life's traumas, acknowledge the negative but celebrate the positive.

James W. Pennebaker

Two kinds of reading can be distinguished. I call them reading like a reader and reading like a writer... when you read like a reader, you identify with the characters in the story. The story is what you learn about. When you read like a writer, you identify with the author and learn about writing.

Frank Smith (psycholinguist)

Learning is most often considered. a process of getting rather than giving. This is most evident in conceptions of student/teacher roles: Teachers give and students get. Yet, in adult learning both giving and getting are critical.

Sometimes you have to give up an intense heat for a continuing warmth.

It seems to me that we have to draw the line in sibling rivalry whenever rivalry goes out of bounds into destructive behavior of aphysical or verbal kind. The principle needs to be this: Whatever the reasons for your feelings you will have to find civilized solutions.

In the years ahead of me, I learned that the world is actually filled with people ready to tell you how likely something is, and what it means to be realistic. But what I have also learned is that no one, no one truly knows what is possible until they go and do it.

To establish that a rule is likely to be true, one must try to prove it false.

Stuart Sutherland

Our time in this life is limited. And how we respect that time will create a greater possibility for fulfillment.

Of all our basic virtues, courage is the one that helps us to live exactly the way we want and provides the psychological fuel we need to create, take risks, help others, and face hard times... Courageous action is humanity at its finest.

Robert Biswas-Diener

The criterion for what is good is based on whether it relieves someone, brings joy, or soothes a distress.

Men have been trained and conditioned by women, not unlike the way Pavlov conditioned his dogs, into becoming their slaves.

Memory's vices are also its virtues, elements of a bridge across time that allows us to link the mind with the world.

Daniel Schacter