Philip G. Zimbardo

Our beloved Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD, passed away in peace on October 14, 2024, at his home in San Francisco surrounded by family. An internationally recognized psychology educator, researcher, author, and media personality, Phil was professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was 91.

Phil is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Christina Maslach Zimbardo, PhD, professor emerita of psychology and former vice provost at UC Berkeley; his son Adam (C. Jezzie, Jessi) from his first marriage to the late Rose Zimbardo, and daughters Zara (Patrick Reinsborough) and Tanya (Michael Doyle); and four grandchildren he adored: Clay Doyle, Philip and Victoria Zimbardo, and Taylor Epstein-Bliss. He is preceded in peace by his father George, mother Margaret, siblings George, Donald, and Vera. He was a proud uncle of their children, Donna Khoury, Patrice Riedel, Neva Romano, Christopher Zimbardo, and Jonathan Zimbardo.

Born in 1933 and raised in the Bronx in New York, Phil was the eldest child in his family. He survived the early experience of a long stay at a hospital for children with contagious diseases, where he learned to read. His formal education began in New York Public School 52, and following graduation from James Monroe High School, Phil became the first member of his Sicilian American family to pursue a college degree. He attended Brooklyn College where he earned a B.A. in 1954, triple majoring in psychology, sociology and anthropology. Phil then went on to earn his M.A. in 1955 and his Ph.D. in 1959 from Yale University, both in psychology. In the mid-1960s, he held teaching positions at Yale University, Columbia University, and New York University. Notably shifting his research from running the rat lab to examining human behavior, Phil's early training spanned hypnosis at the Morton Prince Clinic in New York, co-directing the Children's Test Anxiety Research Project at Yale University, and creating "A Head Start-Black Pride" summer program in Harlem. Phil became involved with anti-war demonstrations and co-authored a publication "Canvassing for Peace."

Phil fell in love with California when he relocated to join the stellar faculty of the Department of Psychology at Stanford University in 1968 and contributed for 40 years to its continued excellence. Highly regarded as a generous teacher and mentor, he inspired thousands of students and educators to become interested in the field of psychology, many of whom went on to careers in academia and clinical practice. Phil embraced teaching the large introductory course in psychology. A charismatic speaker, dedicated to making class memorable, the popularity of his course became legendary. For decades he authored numerous editions of classic introductory textbooks Psychology and Life and Psychology: Core Concepts, along with affiliated teaching resources.

His radiant warmth and passionate approach to the ethos of "giving psychology away"-introducing academic and non-academic audiences alike to the field and its real-world applications- led many students around the world to call him "Uncle Phil." He became a famous public face of psychology as a co-creator and host of the original Discovering Psychology television series and its later updated telecourse version. The PBS / Annenberg Foundation 26-program series has been translated and distributed throughout the world. He also teamed up with Allen Funt, the creator and host of the American hidden-camera show Candid Camera, on producing narrated educational videos in which classic episodes reveal principles in psychology.

Phil received numerous awards for his distinguished teaching, creative research, dedication to social action, and career-long advocacy and contributions to social psychology. His professional leadership included serving as president of the American Psychological Association and the Western Psychological Association, chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP), and board and membership participation of a number of psychology organizations. Following retirement, he continued to lecture at Stanford and taught at Palo Alto University and the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. The Philip G. Zimbardo Papers and his oral history are held in the Stanford University Libraries.

Phil authored over 500 articles, chapters, text and trade books on topics that range from persuasion, dissonance, shyness, time perspective, deindividuation, cults, and obedience to authority. His books have often been reprinted and translated into multiple languages.

Key animating questions that drove his research were to understand prosocial and antisocial human behavior. He developed a theory around deindividuation that could be tested through research studies to investigate why people committed harmful acts. This began during his time at NYU with studies on vandalism. At Stanford, he continued to conduct research on these questions of ethical and immoral behavior through a role-playing prison study, which first garnered public attention following the events at Attica prison, New York, and San Quentin prison, California, and his involvement as an expert witness. The enduring relevance of what became famously known as the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971, with Banks, W.C., Haney, C., and Jaffe, D.), received renewed attention decades later following the abuses in Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq. One of the legacies of the research study is that it helped inform various efforts by many people to advocate for prison reform and challenge abuses of power. Zimbardo later collaborated with international colleagues on studying the role of situational forces with regards to violence, torture, and cults.

In the early 1970s, Phil used a prison metaphor to reconceptualize and study the personal experience of shyness. In 1975, he founded the first clinic solely dedicated to shyness, the Stanford Shyness Clinic (later an offsite clinic and institute; today at Palo Alto University). His publications on shyness included the popular books "Shyness: What it is, what to do about it" (1977) and "The Shy Child" (1981; 1999, with Radl, S.L.).

Another long-standing core interest is the psychology of time, for which Phil developed the widely used Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. He helped initiate an international network of researchers doing work on time perspective, and co-authored "The Time Paradox" (2008, with Boyd, J.) and "The Time Cure" (2012, with Sword, R. and Sword, R.K.M.).

As part of his award-winning and best-selling book, "The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil" (2007), Phil concluded with a chapter that would inspire his focus in the final years of his life to understand, amplify and promote "everyday heroism." He founded the nonprofit Heroic Imagination Project (2010�present) whose national and international educational programs and centers (established in several countries, including Hungary, Poland, Italy, Indonesia and the US) teach people how to resist behaviors such as bullying, bystanding, and negative conformity, and to encourage positive social action. In addition, Phil's belief in the power of educational opportunities led him to establish a college scholarship fund for youth in Sicily.

Phil was a lifelong fan of jazz music. Starting as a teenager he would sit in the "coop" for underage fans at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club. Later as a professor at Stanford, he advocated for saxophonist Stan Getz to join the Stanford Department of Music. Into his late 80s, Phil could be regularly seen in Bay Area jazz clubs enjoying both local and touring acts. His adolescent work experience as an usher at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, ignited an interest in the performing arts, and he attended numerous plays, musicals, and symphony productions over the decades.

He was an avid sports fan, dating back to his childhood stickball games in the streets of the South Bronx, and college athletics in track and field. The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake struck when Phil and his children were at Candlestick Park to watch a World Series game. He continued to cheer for Bay Area, Stanford, and Yale sports teams right until the very end of his life.

Christina and Phil extensively traveled the globe for respective speaking engagements, enjoying together the many friendships and acquaintances of their professional networks. They also welcomed many visitors to their San Francisco home.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Philip G. Zimbardo's name can be made to the nonprofits Heroic Imagination Project (heroicimagination.org) and the Social Psychology Network (socialpsychology.org). A private memorial service will be held in San Francisco. The Zimbardo family invites sharing tributes here on this Legacy page and visiting philipzimbardo.com.