Dr. Michael Inzlicht

RESEARCH

Michael Inzlicht's program of research consists of three distinct, yet related, lines of research that are characterized by the integration of social-cognitive, neuroscientific, and psychophysiological approaches. His major interest is in the study of prejudice and discrimination, focusing specifically on the consequences for members of stigmatized groups, consequences that range from poor academic performance to inaccurate self-knowledge, from biased perception to poor cognitive control. This connection between stigma and (diminished) self-control led him to his second line of research, where he asks basic questions about self-control, including exploring its limits and the cognitive and emotional sequelae of these limits. Self-control is also at the heart of his third line of research, where he takes a social neuroscience approach to investigate the function, role, and psychological correlates of the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain that serves to regulate both cognitive and emotional processing and important for self-control.