From Heroic Imagination to Heroic Action: The Legacy of Philip Zimbardo in Portugal

This article presents the development and implementation of the Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) in Portugal, tracing its evolution from inception to expansion across educational and community contexts. In 2018, the authors attended the Hero Round Table in San Francisco, receiving training from Zimbardo on the bystander effect and strategies to counteract it. Recognizing the absence of HIP curricula for younger audiences and the importance of fostering prosocial behavior early, the team created tailored programs: HIP Kids for children and HIP Teens for adolescents. Since 2018, these programs have been implemented in schools and social centers, reaching approximately 1,200 participants. Developed within the framework of psychology graduate research, the programs were systematically tested and revealed significant gains in prosocial attitudes and behaviors. Mixed-methods evaluation shows measurable increases in altruism, empathy, and prosocial tendencies, while qualitative data indicate meaningful behavioral changes in daily life. A key advancement has been the creation of HIP Clubs, which empower young people to transform heroic imagination into community-based heroic action.