Philip Zimbardo's Influence On Social Psychology

Philip Zimbardo once said, “My early childhood prepared me to be a social psychologist.” Born in a Bronx ghetto on March 23, 1933, Zimbardo is no stranger to crimes and aggression. Growing up, he has even seen his own friends commit felonies throughout their lives. Raised in events like the Great Depression, World War 2, and the Cold War may have influenced his friends to engage in illegal activity. These major events have also shaped Zimbardo’s views on the world. The time in which Philip was raised along with his family being immigrants from Sicily, provided no chance for his parents to receive an education of their own. This made Zimbardo the “the first member of his family to attend college” (musking ). He graduated Brooklyn College with
Zimbardo is one who has adapted the branch of social psychology. His biggest contribution is his 1971 Stanford prison experiment which was created to research the effects situational forces have on human demeanor (verywell). This was Philip’s main area of focus in his career. “In the study, 24 male university students were randomly assigned to act as ‘prisoners’ or ‘guards’ in a mock prison” (famous). The experiment didn’t last for more than a week due to the drastic change in behavior shown by all the students. Some emotions shown were depression, cruelty, anxiety, stress, and rage. He writes that “Evil consists in intentionally behaving in ways that harm, abuse, demean, dehumanize, or destroy innocent others—or using one’s authority and systemic power to encourage or permit others to do so on your behalf. In short, it is “knowing better but doing worse” (book). The prison set-up along with some people being given authority and others being forced to listen “demonstrated how extreme situations can provoke uncharacteristic behavior” (apa). After the experiment, the students went back to their normal behaviors after a few days which further proves that situational forces were the cause of the drastic change. Besides his prison experiment he has also studied “shyness, madness, violence/evil, persuasion, dissonance, hypnosis, and teaching”(musk). Zimbardo
The Stanford Prison Experiment data was still very important after 40 years when news about the Abu Ghraib military abuse scandal come out. In his book “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil” Zimbardo writes “It seemed inconceivable that American soldiers were tormenting, humiliating, and torturing their captives by forcing homoerotic poses upon them….Were these the fine men and women sent overseas by the pentagon on the glorious mission of bringing democracy and freedom to an Iraq recently liberated from the tyrant/torturer Saddam Hussein?” (book). The prison experiment showed how honorable men and women can be cruel and sadistic. Along with helping understand the Abu Ghraib military abuse, Zimbardo has been busy helping make the world better. He created the Shyness clinic in 1977 which is still standing today (Famous). The shyness clinic was made to help people overcome their shyness in public places. Zimbardo is also founder and director of the Heroic Imagination Project which is “a non-profit organization aimed at understanding and promoting everyday heroism” (verywell). He is attempting to improve individuals’ mindset to achieve extraordinary feats in which would provide the world with more incredible deeds. In the bigger picture, Zimbardo is focusing on making the world a better place by promoting humans to engage in heroism, helping people get over shyness, and