My early childhood prepared me to be a social psychologist. I grew up in a South Bronx ghetto in a very poor family. From Sicilian origin, I was the first person in my family to complete high school, let alone go to college.

Zimbardo frames his professional interests as rooted in lived experience rather than abstract curiosity. By emphasizing poverty, immigrant Sicilian background, and being the first in his family to finish high school, he suggests that navigating a harsh social environment trained him to notice how context shapes behavior—an idea central to social psychology. The quote also functions as a brief narrative of social mobility: education becomes the bridge from marginalization to intellectual authority. Implicitly, it supports Zimbardo’s broader theme that situations and social structures powerfully influence outcomes, while also acknowledging individual agency in overcoming constraints.