Perspectives on Time and Personality: Philip G. Zimbardo (1934–2024) in Memoriam

The present paper aims to honor the memory of one of the most notable figures in psychological science over the past five decades, Philip G. Zimbardo, who sadly passed away in late 2024. To this end, we provide a multi-perspective view on psychological time-a topic that deeply engaged Phil Zimbardo during the later stages of his prolific career. From the basic mechanisms of mental time travel to the experience of the passage of time, the phenomena of temporal construal, intertemporal choices, and complex representations of future selves, as well as the concepts of balanced time perspectives and temporal metacognition, the authors of this article construct this symbolic memoir by linking their own ideas and research with Zimbardo's time perspective theory. In the concluding part of the paper, we propose that temporality-related processes and traits constitute a fundamental part of personality and seek to highlight the pathways through which considering psychological-temporal phenomena may advance personality science and even serve as a unifying theme for various approaches to personality.