The Work and Play Lab uses methods borrowed from social psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience to understand the nature of the mental effort we use to reach our goals and the nature of leisure activities we do for fun. The lab’s research includes projects on self-control, motivation, and empathy (work) as well as projects on digital device use, social media, and recreational cannabis use (play). The lab is committed to open and transparent science, which includes publicly posting data and materials, often preregistering studies, and regularly running replication studies.
Michael Inzlicht is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, where he is also cross-appointed as a Professor in the Rotman School of Management. His research mostly focuses on effort and self-control, but he has also become interested in how people spend their leisure time. Michael is passionate about open science.
Sandra, D.A., Segal, Z.V., Majoo, S., Sistanis, A., Burke, M., & Inzlicht, M. (in press). Psychological Medicine.
Zohar, E., & Inzlicht, M. (in press). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
A new study has warned that without intervention, ADHD education could cause many young people to wrongly diagnose themselves
Growing awareness and education around ADHD may be leading to false self-diagnoses among young people, a new study has claimed. Researchers from the University of Toronto say that while education is crucial, it may also trigger a mistaken belief that common issues that young adults face, like tiredness and irritability, are the symptoms of ADHD. The study’s lead author, Dasha Sandra, said young people should not be discouraged from seeking help, but believes mental health education needs to be refined to include more context around the symptoms.
Learning to play a musical instrument is hard. So is trying to run a marathon, writing a term paper, and caring for a sick child. These things involve frustration, pain, and disappointment — yet we do them anyway. In part two of Hidden Brain’s look at the allure of suffering, psychologist Michael Inzlicht explains what we get from doing things that are difficult, and why the things we think will make us happy often do not.
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Can I Have Your Attention, Please? A U of T Scarborough psychology professor explores why we’re more distracted than ever – and proposes a path to deeper engagement and lasting satisfaction.
Michael Inzlicht
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
Canada
Email: michael.inzlicht@utoronto.ca
Eiroa-Solans, C. & Inzlicht, M. (in press). Computers in Human Behavior Reports.