“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I have heard that quote in my clinical practice so many times in the past year that I decided I have to write about it. Somehow this definition has become part of the collective understanding of abnormal psychology and has been terribly misapplied. I don’t know much more about the context of the quote but I am guessing that it was a bit of a humorous comment on science.
First, to critique the quote. If we are going to take this definition seriously to start, then everyone, yes everyone, is insane. Behavioral research in the early part of the twentieth century taught the world about how human beings learn: through long processes of conditioning based on pairings and reinforcement.
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congratulations rather than disproving it you proved the statement
You need to change the title of this article.
He was not wrong, we Are all insane.
Well if we are all insane then there is no point in labeling someone as “insane” since that would hold no relevance. Yet our society does make a distinction, and the label insanity carries a gigantic weight with it. And if we are all insane by the legal definition then none of us can tell the difference between right and wrong. Again, not true. So when this phrase is used by someone going through a normal human process, and the result is the person feeling shame as a result, then it is important to make a distinction. Maybe your approach would be to say “we are all insane so don’t worry about it”. Mine is to say that “what you are experiencing is not insanity, it is a normal part of the human experience.” Both may have the same effect. I think there is just a semantic difference here rather than conceptual. Great comments though. Cheers.
I hear people say this all the time, it’s nice to hear a doctor debunk it. I mean, how can you take an out of context quote from even one of the most brilliant physicists and call it a definition? I can see the line of thinking there but to call that the definition of insanity is insane.
Thank You, Doc.
It WAS a convenient cliche and we all liked old Albert, but having viewed human nature and questioned/studied the ‘nature/nurture’ process all my life, I am glad a professional person can/has seen the difference between insanity and our conditioning, but sadly, there are, of course, variations and exceptions to the ‘rule’, so therefore, there can be no real RULE. Sometimes our conditoning can led to developing the baser elements of insanity. As in relationships/law in general, everyone must be judged and dealt with on an individual basis only after ALL the facts are in. This, however, is a good start in removing the stigma of accepting/rejecting the idea of insanity versus life experiences so that, maybe, more people will seek help when life gets out of control for them.
I agree that this quote is out of context and does not apply to this situation.
I believe a better definition of “insane” would be someone who cannot tell the difference between his/her fantasies and reality, most often rejecting reality as fantasy.
“Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness.” Pascal
I think the quotation is right on for the definition of a personality disorder. Repeated ineffective actions are the definition for at least Borderline Personality Disorder. So are BPDs insane? No, we know right from wrong in most cases.
“And if we are all insane by the legal definition then none of us can tell the difference between right and wrong. Again, not true.”
Regarding right vs. wrong: That is determined largely by culture. In some places in the world, women are ‘wrong’ when they get raped-and it is ‘right’ to punish her for that wrong.
There are considerable dynamics involved and consequences of using the concept of right and wrong when defining insanity. Some people who design the mental health system, or societal laws, have their own interests in mind, rather than the interests of society as a whole. Power effects the determination of rights and wrongs.
Not too long ago-racial discrimination was ‘right’; relatively speaking, it was recently deemed ‘right’ to own another human being as a slave. People who first protested this might have been considered insane? After a million years of human existence, how is it that we only discovered this was a ‘wrong’ but a few decades ago?
What other flawed standards are now considered right or wrong?
I think that a lot of people back in the day knew that racial discrimination was wrong but they did it anyway and tried not to think about it kind of like we all do with wars and stuff.
What Einstein didn’t realize is that doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is a great way to create paradigm shifts. I have developed a process called Intuitive Iteration to challenge the statement by Einstein. My theories were published in the Mensa Bulletin in 1995. Here is how it works:
1)Get a gut reaction to a situation,
2)Introduce the facts and logic,
3)Compare your intuition to the facts and logic,
4)If your intuition agrees with the facts and logic, then, quite possibly, you are on to an accurate new insight,
5)If your intuition does not agree with the facts and logic, try to reconcile them,
6)If they cannot be reconciled, throw out the facts, logic and your intuition,
7)Iterate—Get a gut reaction.
Using this process over 2000 times in one chess position alone I was able to achieve a paradigm shift in thinking that had been cast in stone by two World Champions in chess. Because it can be crunched to completion by a computer now (inevitable checkmate), my theories are correct, and the theories of two World Champions are wrong (I am only an average player). It was only the use of Intuitive Iteration that permitted me to find the truth.
Intuition versus facts and logic is no surprise. Both comprise different ways to view reality. Neither is superior to the other. The best wisdom originates when they act in concert rather than in opposition.
The writer of this article seems to have a rather large ego, especially with a title of “Insanity: Albert Einstein was Wrong”. Einstein was one of the most intelligent men in modern history and a person with a PHD is saying he was wrong, that is laughable. I think rather than debunking Einstein, he proved how unintelligent he could be.
So who was it? Ben Franklin or Einstein or Rita Brown?
The writer does not claim that Einstein was wrong but rather that the quote was out of context. Psychology was not in Einstein’s field of expertise but it is the writer’s.
A good way to look at this topic would be to say that insane ~ irrational. In this regard it is true that the human experience is normally an irrational experience. Dumb decisions based on poor evidence made the wrong motivations…..science.
The fact that we gravitate toward the irrational by nature does not make it less relevant or meaningless. Clearly we do have time where we think rationally and can choose to.do.so.if we desire it.
First rule of research: check your sources.
Einstein never said it:
Source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin — Complete, searchable archive of Franklin’s publications, correspondence, and manuscripts
US State Department – Benjamin Franklin: First American Diplomat
Ben Franklin at PBS
Finding Franklin: A Resource Guide, Library of Congress
e-texts of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography
HTML version at The Electric Ben Franklin
Project Gutenberg edition
Harvard Classics edition
Poor Richard’s Almanac at The Library of Congress: 1733 – 1734 -
1735 – 1737 – 1738 – 1739 – 1742 – 1753 – 1758
Poor Richard’s Almanac(1733-1758)
A Documentary History
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin (PD) (large version)
Benjamin Franklin Religious Quotes (long in-context quotes)
Benjamin Franklin – Select Quotes
Text of Franklin’s “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania”
Facsimilie of “Proposals”
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Misattributed to various people, including Albert Einstein and Mark Twain. The earliest known occurrence, and probable origin is Rita Mae Brown, Sudden Death (Bantam Books, New York, 1983), p. 68.
Although you seem to be doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, in this case I would not call you insane. Instead I would call you an idiot. Why in the world are you spending the valuable time of your life arguing with people about something that doesn’t matter. Put it to rest and get a life (doctor heal thyself). Let’s put it this way – who in the world cares! It was a great comment bt a great man, period. Disregarding his Physics and Mathematics genius your psychological prowess pales in comparison to his. So just put your tail between your legs and run away and hide. Everyone except you understands what he meant. Perhaps you had some problem with improper potty training when young and just can’t let go? I have never dealt a phychiatrist or PHD in psychology who was all there – all had issues at a young age – otherwise who would want to study that? Oh just to let you know, I formally studied Psychiatry unwillingly as it was part of my medial school curriculum. If I remember correctly the 1100 page text was by Kaplan and Kaplan and they (husband and wife) taught the course at my school. Later it changed to Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive textbook of Psychiatry and went to about 5,000 pages. And after seeing your writtings I completely understand why.
A lot of people doing a lot of talking and a Psychiatrist or two who can’t reason. Sir Francis Bacon solved the problem of how to conduct a test using empirical data and it is not in question. When Einstein, or whoever actually made this quote since I can’t find it in any writing of Einstein in my possession, says “the same thing” they mean simply that in any given test situation, if every conceivable variable is identical every time you perform a test (definition of ‘the same’), you are insane (unable to distinguish the real from the imagined) to expect the result will be different. Learning has nothing to do with it. By definition, learning is different in every iteration of learning if for no other reason than the subject has performed the test at least once and now has a greater foundation from which to build knowledge. If any variable is even the slightest bit difference, the test is no longer the same and thus an evaluation of the person is not repeatable. The adage “try, try again” does not mean doing the same thing over and over again. It means trying multiple times making adjustments to the environment each and every time until success is achieved. Yes, in a perfectly sterile environment, exactly repeating a process and believing it produced different results would be the very definition of insanity.