Michael Inzlicht Explained

Michael Inzlicht
Birth Date:20 June 1972
Birth Place:Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Michael Inzlicht is a social psychologist and neuroscientist, working as a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. 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. The claimed phenomenon is known in psychology as stereotype threat.[2] [3] However, in later years he suggested that work on stereotype threat might not be replicable.[4]

In his later work, Inzlicht studied 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] He also explores how 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] Some of his work uses an interdisciplinary approach, which combines neuroimaging, cognitive reaction time measurement, physiological techniques, and behavioral techniques to understand and explain social behaviour.[12]

Inzlicht is a vocal advocate for open science reform.[13] In addition to criticizing the status quo and the replication crisis in psychology,[14] [15] [16] he has expressed doubts about the replicability of his own past scientific work,[17] [18] such as his research on ego depletion.[19]

References

  1. http://inzlicht.socialpsychology.org/ Professional Profile: Michael Inzlicht
  2. http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan04/college.html APA Online: College women underperform on tests when in the minority.
  3. Inzlicht. Michael. Ben-Zeev, Talia. A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science. 2000. 11. 5. 365–371. 10.1111/1467-9280.00272. 11228906. 10.1.1.24.1847. 2887128.
  4. Web site: Michael Inzlicht. Revisiting Stereotype Threat. 2024-12-18. Substack.
  5. Saunders. Blair. Milyavskaya, Marina. Inzlicht, Michael. 206286673. What does cognitive control feel like? Effective and ineffective cognitive control is associated with divergent phenomenology. Psychophysiology. 2015. 1205–1217. 10.1111/psyp.12454. 26041054. 52. 9.
  6. Inzlicht. Michael. Schmeichel, Brandon. 3899310. What is ego depletion? Toward a mechanistic revision of the resource model of self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2012. 7. 5. 450–463. 10.1177/1745691612454134. 26168503.
  7. Inzlicht. Michael. Bartholow, Bruce. Hirsh, Jacob. Emotional foundations of cognitive control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2015. 19. 3. 126–132. 10.1016/j.tics.2015.01.004. 25659515. 4348332.
  8. Teper. Rimma. Segal, Zindel. Inzlicht, Michael. Inside the mindful mind: How mindfulness enhances emotion regulation through improvements in executive control. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2013. 22. 6. 449–454. 10.1177/0963721413495869. 146587497.
  9. Legault. Lisa. Inzlicht, Michael. 3899238. Self-determination, self-regulation, and the brain: Autonomy improves performance by enhancing neuroaffective responsiveness to self-regulation failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2013. 105. 1. 123–138. 10.1037/a0030426. 23106250.
  10. Inzlicht. Michael. Tullett, Alexa. Good, Marie. 18064680. The need to believe: a neuroscience account of religion as a motivated process. Religion, Brain, & Behavior. 2011. 1. 3. 192–251. 10.1080/2153599X.2011.647849.
  11. Inzlicht. Michael. Kang, Sonia. Stereotype threat spillover: How coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2010. 99. 3. 467–481. 10.1037/a0018951. 20649368. 10.1.1.600.1063.
  12. Inzlicht. Michael. Shenhav. Amitai. Olivola. Christopher Y.. The Effort Paradox: Effort Is Both Costly and Valued. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 22. 4. 337–349. 10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.007. 29477776. 6172040. 2018.
  13. Web site: Ghost Effects By Patchen Barss Winter 2018 University of Toronto Magazine. magazine.utoronto.ca. 2018-03-23.
  14. News: Psychology's Replication Crisis Can't Be Wished Away. Yong. Ed. The Atlantic. 2018-03-23. en-US.
  15. Web site: How much of the psychology literature is wrong?. apa.org. en. 2018-03-23.
  16. News: Everything Is Crumbling. Engber. Daniel. 2016-03-06. Slate. 2018-03-23. en-US. 1091-2339.
  17. Web site: Guest Post: Check Yourself before you Wreck Yourself. sometimes i'm wrong. 2018-03-23.
  18. News: Psychology's Replication Crisis Is My Crisis. Undark. 2018-03-23. en-US.
  19. Web site: Michael Inzlicht. The Collapse of Ego Depletion. 2025-01-29. Substack.

Selected Awards & Honours

See also

Selected publications

External links

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