Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist whose Stanford Prison Experiment became one of the most influential and controversial studies in behavioral science, has died at 91. The 1971 study, which examined how ordinary people adopt roles in institutional settings, fundamentally shaped psychology and ethics discussions for decades.
·Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, where student volunteers were assigned roles as guards and prisoners
·The study concluded that situations and institutions can corrupt behavior more powerfully than individual personality traits
·Newly revealed details continue to emerge about the experiment's methodology and its actual outcomes versus popular understanding
·Zimbardo defended his work throughout his life despite later criticisms about the study's ethical standards and scientific validity
·He became a prominent public intellectual, bringing psychological concepts into mainstream culture and education
drawn from Stanford Report, NCHStats, Legacy obituary, Tribute Archive · updated 28d ago