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, Inzlicht and his colleagues demonstrated 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] More recently, Michael 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.^[4][5][6] 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,^[7] quality of motivation,^[8] religious belief,^[9] and stigmatization.^[10] Another feature of Michael's 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.

Selected Awards & Honours

• 2015 - Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• 2015 - Principal's Research Award, University of Toronto Scarborough
• 2013 - 2012 Best Social Cognition Paper Award, International Society for Social Cognition
• 2013 - Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
• 2013 - Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• 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
• 1999 - Student Research Competition, American Psychological Society

Selected Publications

• Inzlicht, M., Bartholow, B. D., & Hirsh, J. B. (2015). Emotional foundations of cognitive control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 126-132. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.01.004
• 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: 127–133. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.009. 
• Teper, R.; Segal, Z.; Inzlicht, M. "Inside the mindful mind: How mindfulness enhances emotion regulation through improvements in executive control". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22: 449–454. doi:10.1177/0963721413495869. 
• *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: 123–138. doi:10.1037/a0030426. 
• Teper, R.; Inzlicht, M. (2013). "Meditation, mindfulness, and executive control: The importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring". Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience. 8: 85–92. doi:10.1093/scan/nss045. 
• 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: 450–463. doi:10.1177/1745691612454134. 
• Inzlicht, M.; Al-Khindi, T. (2012). "ERN and the placebo: A misattribution approach to studying the arousal properties of the error-related negativity". Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 141: 799–807. doi:10.1037/a0027586. PMID 22390264. 
• Proulx, T.; Inzlicht, M.; Harmon-Jones, E. (2012). "Understanding all inconsistency compensation as a palliative response to violated expectations". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 16: 285–291. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.002. 
• 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: 1455–1460. doi:10.1177/0956797612448483. 
• Inzlicht, M. & Schmader, T. (2011). Stereotype Threat: Theory, Process, and Application. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Inzlicht, M.; Tullett, A. M.; Good, M. (2011). "The need to believe: A neuroscience account of religion as a motivated process". Religion, Brain, & Behavior. 1: 192–212. doi:10.1080/2153599X.2011.647849. 
• 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: 1472–1477. doi:10.1177/0956797611427918. 
• Inzlicht, M.; Kang, S. K. (2010). "Stereotype threat spillover: How coping with threats to social identity affects, aggression, eating, decision-making, and attention". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 99: 467–481. doi:10.1037/a0018951. 
• 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: 841–845. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.011. 
• Inzlicht, M.; McGregor, I.; Hirsh, J. B.; Nash, K. (2009). "Neural markers of religious conviction". Psychological Science. 20: 385–392. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02305.x. 
• Inzlicht, M.; Gutsell, J. N. (2007). "Running on empty: Neural signals for self-control failure". Psychological Science. 18: 933–937. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02004.x. 
• Ben-Zeev, T.; Fein, S.; Inzlicht, M. (2005). "Stereotype Threat and Arousal". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 41: 174–181. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2003.11.007. 
• 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: 365–371. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00272. 

References

External links

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