Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo is a psychologist best known for his Stanford prison experiment, which studied how situational factors and authority can influence behavior. In the experiment, volunteers were assigned roles as prisoners or guards, revealing that ordinary people can act severely under certain conditions. Zimbardo's work highlights how environment and perceived power dynamics can impact human actions, raising important ethical questions about research practices and our understanding of human nature. His insights have contributed to psychology’s understanding of conformity, authority, and social influence, emphasizing that context can shape behavior as much as individual personality.