REEL Lab

Regulation of Empathy and Emotion Lab

Publications and Media

First-Author Journal Articles

Depow, G.J., Gordon, A.M., Gu, Y., & Oveis, C. (2026). Build Better Relationships: Positive Empathy and Capitalization. In press at Emotion.

Depow, G.J., Oveis, C., Zohar, E., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). How Individual Differences in Empathy Predict Moments of Empathy in Everyday Life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Online First: https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251333823

Depow, G. J., Oldemburgo de Mello, V., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). A positive empathy intervention to improve well-being on Instagram. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001489

Depow, G.J., Lin, H. & Inzlicht, M. Cognitive effort for self, strangers, and charities. Sci Rep 12, 15009 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19163-y

Depow, G. J., Francis, Z., & Inzlicht, M. (2021). The Experience of Empathy in Everyday Life. Psychological science32(8), 1198–1213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621995202*

*Winner of 2021 UTSC annual Best Paper Award

Collaborative Journal Articles

Campbell, A.V., Depow, G.J., Agarwal, S., & Inzlicht, M. Effortful leisure is a source of meaning in everyday life. Commun Psychol 3, 112 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00292-9

West, S. J., Depow, G. J., Parton, D. M., & Chester, D. S. (2025). Harming in order to help: An empirical characterization of prosocial aggression. Motivation Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000404

Inlzicht, M., Sparrow, T.B., Depow, G.J., Chronic Cannabis Use in Everyday Life: Emotional, Motivational, and Self-Regulatory Effects of Frequently Getting High. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1-12. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241245744

Vaidis DC, Sleegers WWA, van Leeuwen F, et al….Depow, G.J., Inzlicht, M.,….Priolo, D. A Multilab Replication of the Induced-Compliance Paradigm of Cognitive Dissonance. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. 2024;7(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459231213375

Pollerhoff, L., Stietz, J., Depow, G. J., Inzlicht, M., Kanske, P., Li, S.-C., & Reiter, A. M. F. (2022). Investigating adult age differences in real-life empathy, prosociality, and well-being using experience sampling. Sci Rep, 12(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06620-x

Francis, Z., Depow, G. J., & Inzlicht, M. (2021). Do early birds share their worms? How prosocial behaviour and empathy vary across the day. Journal of Research in Personality, 90, 104055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2020.104055

Public Writing

Harvard Business Review
“How Leaders can Practice Wise Empathy”

Broadview Magazine
“I study empathy—Elon Musk gets it all wrong”

Press Coverage

A Positive Empathy Intervention to Improve Well-being on Instagram Press

Toronto Star, Psychology Today, The Guardian, Inkl

Everyday Empathy Press

Forbes Magazine (Japanese Version), 2nd article, The Rotman Insights Hub, The New York Times

Greater Good Magazine

Named one of GreaterGood’s “Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life”

Psychology Today, Harvard Business Review, Neuroscience News, Grazia, UTSC Press Release, World Economic Forum, MedicalExpress, MirageNews, Tekcrispy blog, California School Business News, New York Magazine (Intelligencer)

Chronic Cannabis Use Press

Forbes, Filter Magazine, Norml, Labroots, High Times, Newsweek, Neuroscience News, Science Magazine, Earth, Phys, Benzinga Edge, The Print, Mirage News, The Swift Telecast, Daily Geek Show, Zap

Cognitive Effort for Self, Strangers, and Charities Press

Inverse, Inkl, Yahoo!

Effortful Leisure is a Source of Meaning Press

ScienceMag, Infobae

The Compassion Advantage Press

Rotman Insights Hub, Harvard Business Review

A Multilab Replication of the Induced-Compliance Paradigm of Cognitive Dissonance

The New Yorker, Wired

Radio and Podcast Appearances

Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron: CFRA 580 News Talk Radio (@ 17:52)

https://www.iheartradio.ca/580-cfra/audio-podcasts/ottawa-now-april-21-2023-hour-2-1.19561936?mode=Article

Doing Well: The Well-being Science Insights Podcast

Audio

Video

Conference Presentations

The Love Consortium Virtual Symposium: Empathy as an Interpersonal Process

Society for Affective Science (SAS) 2025
Regulation of Empathy on Social Media (Flash Talk and Poster) https://osf.io/yd549/files/osfstorage

Academy of Management 2024
Supporting Employees , Now and in the Future : Managing Distress and Expressing Compassion in Organizations (Symposium) https://osf.io/5jcyv

Society for Affective Science (SAS) Conference 2024
How Trait Empathy Predicts Everyday Experiences on Empathy https://osf.io/z76hf/

Society for Affective Science (SAS) Conference 2023
A Positive Empathy Intervention to Improve Subjective Well-being on Social Media https://osf.io/4m65q/ (see below for 30 second video explaining this work)

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention 2021
State and Trait Empathy https://osf.io/z76hf/

York Univeristy of Toronto Social Personality Abnormality (YUTSPA) Conference 2022
Describing Empathy in Daily Life https://osf.io/c3bzh/

American Psychological Association Annual Convention 2021
Symposium: What is Empathy? New Insights in Theory and Measurement https://osf.io/5xq9c/
Talk: The Experience of Empathy in Everyday Life https://osf.io/58vhj/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGJMpBzNhwY

Association for Psychological Science Virtual Convention 2021
Deciding who to help: Prosocial Apathy and the Role of Self-other Overlap: https://osf.io/fj4mx/

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention 2021
Spare a thought for others: Self-other Overlap and the Subjective Value of Mental Effort: https://osf.io/qusmx/

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention 2020
A Representative Experience Sampling Study of Empathy in Everyday Life: https://osf.io/bprwg/

Explaining some current research in 30 seconds, with Dan Mirea (https://nivlab.princeton.edu/people/dan-mircea-mirea).