Philip Zimbardo
Philip G. Zimbardo (born March 23, 1933) is an American psychologist best-known for running the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which Stanford University students did role-playing as prisoners and guards. The resulting sadism exhibited by some "guards", and corresponding depression and passivity of "prisoners", led to theories about the importance of social position in individual psychology that are still controversial today.Zimbardo is also well-known for his textbooks, which are used in many American undergraduate psychology courses. He assisted in a PBS TV series titled "Discovering Psychology."
Zimbardo grew up in New York City, in the South Bronx, and went to Monroe High School with Stanley Milgram. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College, and his Master's degree and PhD from Yale University.
Zimbardo was a professor at Stanford from 1968 until retiring in November 2003. His wife, Christina Maslach, is a psychology professor at UC Berkeley.
He was president of the American Psychological Association in 2002.
His main role now is as founder and mentor of The Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, which treats shy benavior in adults and children.