Contents
Aronson begins the book by citing a number of scenarios, real and constructed — reactions to the Kent State shootings, the Stanford prison experiments, and a four-year old boy given a drum set among them — that illustrate a variety of human behaviors seen in real life. The rest of the book is spent primarily on explaining how human minds operate and interact with each other, using these situations as examples. The book covering topics include the causes of prejudice, aggression, and cognitive dissonance.
In explaining the reasons why people behave in unusual ways, Aronson cites his "first law":
People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy.
Read more about this topic: The Social Animal (Elliot Aronson book)
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