Michael Inzlicht

Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management and a research lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society. Studies why people both avoid mental effort and find meaning in it — among the most-cited psychologists working on self-control and motivation (top 1% by citations, 2022–2025).

Cited in the-joy-of-writing for the effort paradox: with Amitai Shenhav and Christopher Olivola, he argues effort itself can be rewarding and people sometimes choose a task because it is hard, against the default cognitive-miser account of thought as effort-avoidant. Shenhav also co-authored, with wanja-wolff and maik-bieleke, a chapter on neuroscientific approaches to self-regulation in sport — an indirect link between the two research threads the-joy-of-writing draws on independently.

Has separately written about AI and effort: that by removing the friction of a task, AI risks removing the struggle that would have taught something.

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cognitive-miser · the-joy-of-writing · maik-bieleke · wanja-wolff