Michael Inzlicht

Michael Inzlicht is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto recognized in the areas of social psychology and neuroscience. Although he has published papers on the topics of prejudice, academic performance, and religion, his most recent interests have been in the topics of self-control, where he borrows methods from affective and cognitive neuroscience to understand the underlying nature of self-control, including how it is driven by motivation.^[1]

In the early 2000s, he and his colleagues claimed to demonstrate that small, seemingly benign characteristics of an environment could play a large role in determining how stereotyped groups perform on academic tests. They found, for example, that the number of men in a small group could determine whether women succeeded (fewer men) or failed (more men) a math test.^[2][3] Although this work on stereotype threat was well received, Professor Inzlicht has of late suggested that work on stereotype threat might not be replicable.^[4]

In his more recent work, Professor Inzlicht has primarily focused on improving our understanding of self-control and the related concepts of cognitive control and executive function (mental processes that allow behavior to vary adaptively depending on current goals). Much of his work explores the building blocks of control, including its neural, cognitive, emotional, and motivational foundations.^[5][6][7] At the same time—and at a different level of analysis—he also explores the various ways that self-control can be influenced by various cultural and situational factors, including mindfulness meditation,^[8] quality of motivation,^[9] religious belief,^[10] and stigmatization.^[11] Another feature of his work is that he takes a social affective neuroscience approach to address questions of interest. Thus, he combines neuroimaging, cognitive reaction time, physiological, and behavioral techniques to understand and explain social behaviour. This interdisciplinary approach provides a fuller, more integrated understanding of social behavior, emotion, and the brain.^[7][12]

In recent years, Professor Inzlicht's has become a vocal and often passionate advocate for open science reform.^[13] Part of his advocacy included not only criticizing the status quo and lamenting the clear evidence that psychology was suffering from a replication crisis;^[14][15][16] but also examining his own past scientific work,^[17] asking how much his own work might be simply false.^[18]

Selected Awards & Honours[]

• 2016-2019 - Research Excellence Faculty Scholar, University of Toronto Scarborough
• 2017 - NeuroLeadership Application of Science Award
• 2015 - Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• 2015 - Principal's Research Award, University of Toronto Scarborough
• 2013 - Best Social Cognition Paper Award, International Society for Social Cognition
• 2013 - Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
• 2009 - Early Researcher Award, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
• 2006 - Louise Kidder Early Career Award, American Psychological Association (Division 9)
• 2004-2006 - Fellow of the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation
• 2002 - Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Dissertation Award, finalist

See also[]

• Replication crisis

Selected publications[]

• Inzlicht, M.; Shenhav, A.; Olivola, C. (2018). "The effort paradox: Effort is both costly and valued". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 22 (4): 337–349. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.007. PMC 6172040. PMID 29477776.
• Milyavskaya, M.; Inzlicht, M. (2017). "What's So Great About Self-Control? Examining the Importance of Effortful Self-Control and Temptation in Predicting Real-Life Depletion and Goal Attainment". Social Psychological and Personality Science. 8 (6): 603–611. doi:10.1177/1948550616679237. S2CID 3927544.
• Berkman, E.; Hutcherson, C.; Livingston, J.; Kahn, L.; Inzlicht, M. (2017). "Self-Control as Value-Based Choice". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 26 (5): 422–428. doi:10.1177/0963721417704394. PMC 5765996. PMID 29335665.
• Saunders, B.; Lin, H.; Milyavskaya, M.; Inzlicht, M. (2016). "The emotive nature of conflict monitoring in the medial prefrontal cortex". International Journal of Psychophysiology. 119: 31–40. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.01.004. PMID 28088350.
• Inzlicht, M.; Bartholow, B. D.; Hirsh, J. B. (2015). "Emotional foundations of cognitive control". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 19 (3): 126–132. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.01.004. PMC 4348332. PMID 25659515.
• Inzlicht, M., Legault, L., & *Teper, R. (2014). Exploring the mechanisms of self-control improvement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 302-307. doi: 10.1177/0963721414534256
• Inzlicht, Michael; Schmeichel, Brandon; Macrae, C. Neil (2014). "Why self-control seems (but may not be) limited". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 18 (3): 127–133. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.009. PMID 24439530. S2CID 28118568.
• Teper, R.; Segal, Z.; Inzlicht, M. (2013). "Inside the mindful mind: How mindfulness enhances emotion regulation through improvements in executive control". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22 (6): 449–454. doi:10.1177/0963721413495869. S2CID 146587497.
• *Tritt, S M., Page-Gould, E., Peterson, J. B., & Inzlicht, M. (2014). System justification and electrophysiological responses to feedback: Support for a positivity bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 1004-1010. doi:10.1037/a0035179
• Legault, L.; Inzlicht, M. (2013). "Self-determination, self-regulation, and the brain: Autonomy improves performance by enhancing neuroaffective responsiveness to self-regulation failure". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 105 (1): 123–138. doi:10.1037/a0030426. PMID 23106250. S2CID 3899238.
• Teper, R.; Inzlicht, M. (2013). "Meditation, mindfulness, and executive control: The importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 8 (1): 85–92. doi:10.1093/scan/nss045. PMC 3541488. PMID 22507824.
• Inzlicht, M.; Schmeichel, B. J. (2012). "What is ego depletion? Toward a mechanistic revision of the resource model of self-control". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 7 (5): 450–463. doi:10.1177/1745691612454134. PMID 26168503. S2CID 3899310.
• Proulx, T.; Inzlicht, M.; Harmon-Jones, E. (2012). "Understanding all inconsistency compensation as a palliative response to violated expectations". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 16 (5): 285–291. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.002. PMID 22516239. S2CID 24122472.
• Legault, L.; Al-Khindi, T.; Inzlicht, M. (2012). "Preserving integrity in the face of performance threat: Self-affirmation enhances neurophysiological responsiveness to errors". Psychological Science. 23 (12): 1455–1460. doi:10.1177/0956797612448483. PMID 23090755. S2CID 3952277.
• Inzlicht, M. & Schmader, T. (2011). Stereotype Threat: Theory, Process, and Application. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Legault, L.; Gutsell, J. N.; Inzlicht, M. (2011). "Ironic effects of anti-prejudice messages: How motivational intervention reduces (but also increases) prejudice". Psychological Science. 22 (12): 1472–1477. doi:10.1177/0956797611427918. PMID 22123778. S2CID 14206109.
• Gutsell, J. N.; Inzlicht, M. (2010). "Empathy constrained: Prejudice predicts reduced mental simulation of actions during observation of outgroups". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 46 (5): 841–845. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.011.
• Inzlicht, M.; Gutsell, J. N. (2007). "Running on empty: Neural signals for self-control failure". Psychological Science. 18 (11): 933–937. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02004.x. PMID 17958704. S2CID 220627992.
• Inzlicht, M.; Ben-Zeev, T. (2000). "A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in the presence of males". Psychological Science. 11 (5): 365–371. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.24.1847. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00272. PMID 11228906. S2CID 2887128.

References[]

External links[]

• Michael Inzlicht's Academic Website at the University of Toronto