After a suicide has made front-page news, airplanes - private planes, corporate jets, airliners - begin falling out of the sky at an alarming rate. (pp. 143-4)

Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds. Observers trying to decide what a man is like look closely at his actions. What the Chinese have discovered is that the man himself uses this same evidence to decide what he is like. His behavior tells him about himself; it is a primary source of information about his beliefs and values and attitudes. Understanding fully this important principle of self-perception, the Chinese set about arranging the prison-camp experience so that their captives would consistently act in desired ways. Before long, the Chinese knew, their actions would begin to take their toll, causing the men to change their views of themselves to align with what they had done. (pp. 75-6)