Philip Zimbardo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Philip Zimbardo
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Zimbardo in 2019
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| Born |
Philip George Zimbardo
March 23, 1933 New York City, U.S.
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| Died | October 14, 2024 (aged 91) |
| Education | Brooklyn College (BA) Yale University (MS, PhD) |
| Known for | Stanford prison experiment Abu Ghraib prison analysis time perspective therapy social intensity syndrome |
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Notable work
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The Lucifer Effect (2007) The Time paradox |
| Spouse(s) |
Rose Abdelnour
(m. 1957; div. 1971)Christina Maslach
(m. 1972) |
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Philip George Zimbardo ( March 23, 1933 – October 14, 2024) was an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which was later criticized severely for both ethical and scientific reasons. He has authored various introductory psychology textbooks for college students, and other notable works, including The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and The Time Cure. He was also the initiator and president of the Heroic Imagination Project.
Contents
Early life and education
Zimbardo was born in New York City on March 23, 1933, to a family of Italian immigrants from Cammarata in Sicily. Early in life he experienced discrimination and prejudice, growing up poor on welfare in the South Bronx, and being Italian. He was often mistaken for someone of other races and ethnicities such as Jewish, Puerto Rican or black. Zimbardo has said these experiences early in life began his curiosity about people's behavior, and later influenced his research in school.
In 1954, Zimbardo completed his B.A. with a triple major in psychology, sociology, and anthropology from Brooklyn College, where he graduated summa cum laude. He completed his M.S. (1955) and Ph.D. (1959) in psychology from Yale University, where Neal E. Miller was his advisor. While at Yale, he married fellow graduate student Rose Abdelnour; they had a son in 1962 and divorced in 1971.
He taught at Yale from 1959 to 1960. From 1960 to 1967, he was a professor of psychology at New York University College of Arts & Science. From 1967 to 1968, he taught at Columbia University. He joined the faculty at Stanford University in California in 1968 and has taught for 50 years there (APA).
Stanford prison study
Background
In 1971, Zimbardo accepted a tenured position as professor of psychology at Stanford University. With a government grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, he performed the Stanford prison study in which 24 male college students were selected (from an applicant pool of 75). After a mental health screening, the remaining men were assigned randomly to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock prison located in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. Prisoners were confined to a 6' × 9' cell with black steel-barred doors. The only furniture in each cell was a cot. Solitary confinement was a small unlit closet. Zimbardo's goal for the Stanford Prison study was to assess the psychological effect on a (randomly assigned) student of becoming a prisoner or prison guard.
Experiment
Zimbardo himself participated with the study, playing the role of "prison superintendent" who could mediate disputes between guards and prisoners. He instructed guards to find ways to dominate the prisoners, not with physical violence, but with other tactics, such as sleep deprivation and punishment with solitary confinement. Later in the experiment, as some guards became more aggressive, taking away prisoners' cots (so that they had to sleep on the floor), and forcing them to use buckets kept in their cells as toilets, and then refusing permission to empty the buckets, neither the other guards nor Zimbardo himself intervened. Knowing that their actions were observed but not rebuked, guards considered that they had implicit approval for such actions.
In later interviews, several guards told interviewers that they knew what Zimbardo wanted to have happen, and they did their best to make that happen. Less than two full days into the study, one inmate pretended to suffer from depression, uncontrolled rage and other mental dysfunctions. The prisoner was eventually released after screaming and acting in an unstable manner in front of the other inmates. He revealed later that he faked this "breakdown" to get out of the study early. This prisoner was replaced with one of the alternates.
Results
By the end of the study, the guards had won complete control over all of their prisoners and were using their authority to its greatest extent. One prisoner had even gone as far as to begin a hunger strike. When he refused to eat, the guards put him into solitary confinement for three hours (even though their own rules stated the limit that a prisoner could be in solitary confinement was only one hour). Instead of the other prisoners considering this inmate as a hero and following along in his strike, they chanted together that he was a bad prisoner and a troublemaker. Prisoners and guards had adapted rapidly to their roles, doing more than what had been predicted and resulting on dangerous and potentially psychologically damaging situations. Zimbardo himself started to give in to the roles of the situation. He had to be shown the reality of the study by Christina Maslach, his girlfriend and future wife, who had just received her doctorate in psychology. Zimbardo stated that the message from the study is that "situations can have a more powerful influence over our behaviour than most people appreciate, and few people recognize [that]."
At the end of the study, after all the prisoners had been released, everyone was brought back into the same room for evaluation and to be able to get their feelings out in the open towards one another. Ethical concerns about the study often compare it to the Milgram experiment, which was performed in 1961 at Yale University by Stanley Milgram, Zimbardo's former high school friend. Zimbardo and Maslach married in 1972, a year after the study.
More recently, Thibault Le Texier of the University of Nice has examined the archives of the experiment, including videos, recordings, and Zimbardo's handwritten notes, and argued that "The guards knew what results the experiment was supposed to produce ... Far from reacting spontaneously to this pathogenic social environment, the guards were given clear instructions for how to create it ... The experimenters intervened directly in the experiment, either to give precise instructions, to recall the purposes of the experiment, or to set a general direction ...In order to get their full participation, Zimbardo intended to make the guards believe that they were his research assistants.". Since his original publication in French, Le Texier's accusations have been examined by science communicators in the United States. In his book Humankind - a hopeful history (2020) historian Rutger Bregman discusses charges that the whole experiment was faked and fraudulent; Bregman argued this experiment is often used as an example to show that people succumb easily to evil behavior, but Zimbardo has been less than candid about the fact that he told the guards to act the way they did. More recently, an APA psychology article reviewed this work in detail and concluded that Zimbardo encouraged the guards to act the way they did, so rather than this behavior appearing on its own, it was generated by Zimbardo.
Time
In 2008, Zimbardo published his work with John Boyd about the Time Perspective Theory and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) in The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life. In 2009, he met Richard Sword and started collaborating to convert the Time Perspective Theory into a clinical therapy, beginning a four-year long pilot study and establishing time perspective therapy. In 2009, Zimbardo did his Ted Talk "The Psychology of Time" about the Time Perspective Theory. According to this Ted Talk, there are six kinds of different Time Perspectives which are Past Positive TP (Time Perspective), Past Negative TP, Present Hedonism TP, Present Fatalism TP, Future Life Goal-Oriented TP and Future Transcendental TP. In 2012, Zimbardo, Richard Sword, and his wife Rosemary authored a book named The Time Cure. Time Perspective therapy bears similarities to Pause Button Therapy, developed by psychotherapist Martin Shirran, whom Zimbardo corresponded with and met at the first International Time Perspective Conference at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Zimbardo wrote the foreword to the second edition of Shirran's book on the subject.
Heroic Imagination Project
As of 2014 Zimbardo is the founder and director of the Heroic Imagination Project (HIP), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting heroism in everyday life. The project is currently collecting data from former American gang members and individuals with former ties to terrorism for comparison, in an attempt to better understand how individuals change violent behavior. This research portion of the project is co-directed by Rony Berger, Yotam Heineburg, and Leonard Beckum. He published an article contrasting heroism and altruism in 2011 with Zeno Franco and Kathy Blau in the Review of General Psychology.
Social intensity syndrome (SIS)
In 2008, Zimbardo began working with Sarah Brunskill and Anthony Ferreras on a new theory termed social intensity syndrome (SIS). SIS is a new term invented to describe and normalize the effects military culture has on the socialization of both active soldiers and veterans. Zimbardo and Brunskill presented the new theory and a preliminary factor analysis of it accompanying survey at the Western Psychological Association in 2013. Brunskill finished the data collection in December 2013. Through an exploratory component factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency and validity tests demonstrated that SIS was a reliable and valid construct of measuring military socialization.
Other endeavors
After the prison experiment, Zimbardo decided to search for ways he could use psychology to help people; this resulted in the founding of The Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, which treats shy behavior in adults and children. Zimbardo's research on shyness resulted in several bestselling books on the topic. Other subjects he has researched include mind control and cultic behavior.
Zimbardo is the co-author of an introductory Psychology textbook entitled Psychology And Life, which is used for many American undergraduate psychology courses. He also hosted a PBS television series titled Discovering Psychology which is used in many college telecourses.
In 2004, Zimbardo testified for the defense during the court martial of Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, a guard at Abu Ghraib prison. He argued that Frederick's sentence should be lessened due to mitigating circumstances, explaining that few individuals can resist the powerful situational pressures of a prison, particularly without proper training and supervision. The judge apparently disregarded Zimbardo's testimony, and gave Frederick the maximum 8-year sentence. Zimbardo drew on the knowledge he gained from his participation in the Frederick case to write a new book entitled The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, about the connections between Abu Ghraib and the prison experiments.
Zimbardo's writing appeared in Greater Good Magazine, published by the Greater Good Science Center of the University of California, Berkeley. Zimbardo's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships. His most recent article with Greater Good magazine is entitled: "The Banality of Heroism", which examines how ordinary people can become everyday heroes. In February 2010, Zimbardo was a guest presenter at the Science of a Meaningful Life seminar: Goodness, Evil, and Everyday Heroism, along with Greater Good Science Center Executive Director Dacher Keltner.
Zimbardo, who retired officially in 2003, gave his final lecture "Exploring Human Nature" on March 7, 2007, on the Stanford campus, bringing his teaching career of 50 years to an end. David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, termed Zimbardo "a legendary teacher", saying that "he has changed the way we think about social influences".
Zimbardo has made appearances on American television, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on March 29, 2007, The Colbert Report on February 11, 2008, and Dr. Phil on October 25, 2010.
Zimbardo served as advisor to the anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution and appeared in the organization's videos to explain the bystander effect and discuss the evil of inaction.
Since 2003, Zimbardo has been active in charitable and economic work in rural Sicily through the Zimbardo-Luczo Fund with Steve Luczo and the local director Pasquale Marino, which provides scholarships for academically gifted students from Corleone and Cammarata.
In 2015, Zimbardo co-authored a book "Man (Dis)connected: How Technology Has Sabotaged What It Means To Be Male", which collected research to support a thesis that males are increasingly disconnected from society. He argues that a lack of two-parent households and female-oriented schooling have made it more attractive to live virtually.
Death
Zimbardo died at home in San Francisco on October 14, 2024, at the age of 91.
Recognition
In 2012, Zimbardo received the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Science of Psychology. In 2011, he received an honorary doctorate degree from SWPS University in Warsaw. In 2003, Zimbardo and University of Rome La Sapienza scholars Gian Vittorio Caprara, and Claudio Barbaranelli were awarded the sarcastic Ig Nobel Award for Psychology for their report "Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities".
Selected Works
- Influencing attitude and changing behavior: A basic introduction to relevant methodology, theory, and applications (Topics in social psychology), Addison Wesley, 1969
- The Cognitive Control of Motivation. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1969
- Stanford prison experiment: A simulation study of the psychology of imprisonment, Philip G. Zimbardo, Inc., 1972
- Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1969, ISBN: 0-07-554809-7
- Canvassing for Peace: A Manual for Volunteers. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, 1970, ISBN
- Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison Wesley., 1977, ISBN
- Psychology and You, with David Dempsey (1978).
- Shyness: What It Is, What to Do About It, Addison Wesley, 1990, ISBN: 0-201-55018-0
- The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991, ISBN: 0-87722-852-3
- Psychology (3rd Edition), Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1999, ISBN: 0-321-03432-5
- The Shy Child : Overcoming and Preventing Shyness from Infancy to Adulthood, Malor Books, 1999, ISBN: 1-883536-21-9
- Psychology - Core Concepts, 5/e, Allyn & Bacon Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 0-205-47445-4
- Psychology And Life, 17/e, Allyn & Bacon Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 0-205-41799-X
- The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, Random House, New York, 2007, ISBN: 1-4000-6411-2
- The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2008, ISBN: 1-4165-4198-5
- The Journey from the Bronx to Stanford to Abu Ghraib, pp. 85–104 in "Journeys in Social Psychology: Looking Back to Inspire the Future", edited by Robert Levine, et al., CRC Press, 2008. ISBN: 0-8058-6134-3
- Salvatore Cianciabella (prefazione di Philip Zimbardo, nota introduttiva di Liliana De Curtis). Siamo uomini e caporali. Psicologia della dis-obbedienza. Franco Angeli, 2014. ISBN: 978-88-204-9248-9. siamouominiecaporali.it
- Maschi in difficoltà, Zimbardo, Philip, Coulombe, Nikita D., Cianciabella, Salvatore (a cura di), FrancoAngeli Editore, 2017.
- Man (Dis)connected, Zimbardo, Philip, Coulombe, Nikita D., Rider/ Ebury Publishing, United Kingdom, 2015, ISBN: 978-1846044847
- Man Interrupted: Why Young Men are Struggling & What We Can Do About It. Philip Zimbardo, Nikita Coulombe; Conari Press, 2016.
See also
In Spanish: Philip Zimbardo para niños
In Spanish: Philip Zimbardo para niños
- Human experimentation in the United States
- List of social psychologists
- Banality of evil
