Let's start with the TL;DR: At the MCL, we are working to build the field of success psychology. To do that, we study how to effectively direct, manage, and use the mind to achieve success. Moreover, we seek to understand and explain how the subjective aspects of the mind, including thoughts, beliefs, and expectations, determine the success we experience in our lives. We then translate this knowledge into evidence-based tools that help people activate greater potential, satisfaction, and sustainable success.
Here’s the slightly longer version: William James, one of the founders of modern psychology, is purported to have said that the greatest discovery of his generation was that human beings can alter their lives by altering their minds. This, of course, is easier said than done. More than a century after James, researchers are still trying to get a clear picture of how the mind and its subjective elements affect objective outcomes, and how we can take control of this influence to lead more meaningful and successful lives.
The MCL is at the forefront of this effort. We are a psychological science-led lab working to build the field of success psychology. More specifically, we are interested in understanding how to effectively direct, manage, and use the mind to achieve success across multiple life domains – the kind of success that yields our best performances and elicits growth.
Correspondingly, the lab aims to bridge the gap between research excellence and real-world impact. That is, the MCL collaborates with other labs at UC, as well as research labs worldwide, in addition to industry, government, and community organisations, to accelerate knowledge transfer and increase the quality, relevance, and magnitude of our work.
Certainly, there are exciting, fulfilling, and potentially high-yielding opportunities for increased collaboration, value creation, and partnership. We encourage interested businesses and industry organisations whether local, national, or international to reach out to us HERE.
To be sure, our research findings have a stunning array of implications and applications including (but not limited to) helping individuals and teams rethink failure, stay focused, exceed the growth and progress they assumed possible, advance mental thriving for rangatahi, and better navigate (and, where appropriate, defend against) the ever-evolving social and technological forces that are increasingly surrounding and pervasively influencing human thought and life.
Research in the lab can be grouped into three broad themes, below we explain these themes in greater detail, and highlight some of our current and past research projects.
