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Work And Play Lab


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Work And Play Lab


Why does empathy or self-control feel like hard work? Why do people spend their leisure time on social media or getting stoned?

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.

Work/Play
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About Michael


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About Michael


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.

 
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Publications


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Publications


Recent Publications

Featured
The fable of state self-control [PDF]

Inzlicht, M., & Roberts, B.W. (2024). Current Opinion in Psychology, 58, 101848

Fast-forward to boredom: How switching behaviour on digital media makes people more bored [PDF]

Tam, K.Y.Y. & Inzlicht, M. (in press). Fast-forward to boredom: How switching behaviour on digital media makes people more bored. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

An experimental manipulation of the value of effort [PDF]

Lin, H., Westbrook, A., Fan, F., & Inzlicht, M. (2024). Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 988-1000.

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News


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News


Featured News

News for Front
A Psychologist Debunks The Single Greatest Myth About Marijuana
A Psychologist Debunks The Single Greatest Myth About Marijuana

…This isn’t a relic of a bygone era. The idea that marijuana makes you lazy has been a recurring theme in anti-drug campaigns and remains a widely held belief. Many people still view cannabis users as unmotivated slackers, content to waste their days in a haze of smoke. But is this really true? According to recent research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, it may be little more than a myth.

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Bored? Scientists say mindless scrolling through online videos makes it worse
Bored? Scientists say mindless scrolling through online videos makes it worse

Researchers conducted experiments to investigate the psychological effects of flicking by and fast-forwarding through online videos during moments of downtime
Scrolling through videos on TikTok or YouTube to avert boredom may have a decidedly unintended consequence: It can make people feel more bored, according to the paradoxical findings of a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. People seem increasingly intolerant of it, and Michael Inzlicht has a counterintuitive tip for avoiding boredom: Lean into it. Sit with the discomfort of boredom for a bit before flitting to something else. “If we’re so addicted to escaping boredom, so intolerant of boredom, it would be like a foraging animal going tree to tree, but never searching long enough to see if it bears fruit,” Inzlicht said. “Eventually, that animal will die.”

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Is willpower a myth?
Is willpower a myth?

The struggle for self-control is real, and one many of us are familiar with - but is 'willpower' actually a myth?  Psychology professor Michael Inzlicht has long been intrigued by how we curb our less desirable behaviours, and what it is that unites people with 'high self-control'. His research at the University of Toronto's Work and Play Lab also seeks to understand our complicated relationship with effort and empathy - and whether so-called 'empathetic AI' has a place in our future. 

Listen to on-air interview on Radio New Zealand

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Contact


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Contact


Michael Inzlicht

Department of Psychology
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
Canada

Email: michael.inzlicht@utoronto.ca