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Motivation Lab

Developing tools to engage people in the ordinary behaviors that have an extraordinary impact on health and well-being
A female runner looking at her smartphone and smartwatch
About

The Motivation Lab is a dynamic learning community founded in shared values of collaboration, competence, and creativity. Our goal is to move people to live healthier and happier lives. We develop, evaluate and refine evidence-based approaches to make health behavior change enjoyable and efficient.

We use psychological theories to understand how people adapt their thoughts, feelings and actions across contexts, and the impact of those adaptations on their health. We apply technology to reach people in the natural context of their daily lives. We believe less can be more.

Our research generally focuses on change over time. But the specific focus of our research has changed over time. Early studies emphasized achievement motivation, with a particular focus on avoidance motivation during competence pursuits (e.g., fear of failure). More recently, our primary focus has shifted toward understanding:

  • within-person dynamics of motivation and health behavior;
  • how automatic motivation processes can be targeted to improve health behavior;
  • developing just-in-time interventions for promoting health behaviors in daily life (including person-specific decision rules that hold promise for creating a new form of precision behavioral medicine).

  • Learn more about our work:
    • Publications indexed on Pubmed
    • Google Scholar list of publications

Contact Info

Phone
(734) 647-6050
Website
https://motivation.kines.umich.edu
Director(s)

David Conroy, PhD, FACSM, FSBM

[email protected]

Member(s)

Staff

Shea Boyer

,
[email protected]

Alyssa Cutshaw

,
[email protected]

Crystal Lim, MS

,
[email protected]

Ann Mehringer, MS

,
[email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow(s)

Shiyu Li, PhD

,
[email protected]

Allyson Tabaczynski, PhD

,
[email protected]

Graduate Students (at Penn State)

Yingjia (Belle) Liu, MS, [email protected] 
Jingchuan Wu, MA, [email protected]

Undergraduate Students

Nina Taleb Bendiab, [email protected]
Mira Fayad, [email protected]
Trevor Heath, [email protected]
Megan Higley, [email protected]
Tej Menon, [email protected]
Hisham Shirazi, [email protected]
Cat Sukpraphrute, [email protected]
Michelle Xiao, [email protected]

Projects

Roybal Center for Promoting Adherence to Behavior Change and Enhancing Cognitive Function
Physical Activity and Percussive Massage Therapy for Reducing Pain in Older Women
Efficacy of Precision Text Messaging to Increase Physical Activity in Insufficiently-Active Young Adults
Efficacy of sipIT Intervention for Increasing Urine Output in Patients with Urolithiasis
Dual-Process Mechanisms of Action for sipIT Intervention Effects in Patients with Urolithiasis
Increasing Physical Activity in Rural Pennsylvanians: The PA Moves Trial
Impact of Brief Daily Functional Resistance Training on Lower Extremity Physical Performance
Comparative Effectiveness of Brief Strength and Balance Exercises and Standard Home-Based Group Exercise for Primary Care Patients with Mobility Disability
Einstein Aging Study: Sleep, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Cognitive Function
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School of Kinesiology
830 N. University Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
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