Social lunch -- Dr. Richard Lopez (University of Michigan).

Previous theorizing suggests that self-regulatory strategies may be variably effective, but their efficacy in real world settings, as well as the role of person-and situation-level moderating factors, is not well known. In this talk, I will discuss a series of experience sampling and daily diary studies that assessed or trained up people’s self-regulatory abilities in the eating and smoking domains via a range of strategies, including situation selection/modification, cognitive reappraisal, distraction, and others. Across studies, no one strategy appeared to be a magic bullet when it comes to successful self-regulation, but the findings pave the way for future work to tease out the boundary conditions of strategy efficacy and establish the ecological validity of various models of self-regulation. I will conclude the talk by briefly discussing an exciting new line of research in my lab that will examine people’s experiences of self and identity on social media platforms and ways to regulate social media use to promote mental health and wellbeing.