Kelly McGonigal

Kelly McGonigal (born October 21, 1977) is a health psychologist who is known for her work in the field of 'science help'—popular explication of scientific research—as it relates to achieving personal goals despite inner conflict. Mainstream media articles about inner-conflict-related aspects of modern lifestyles regularly quote her. A longtime advocate of self-compassion and mindfulness as stress-coping strategies, McGonigal has lately altered her focus on the problematic aspects of stress; in a talk at the TEDGlobal 2013, she emphasized the importance of an individual's subjective belief in themselves as someone who is able to cope successfully as being a crucial factor in their actual response to stress.

McGonigal, who is the identical twin of game designer Jane McGonigal, was brought up in New Jersey by public school teacher parents who emphasized intellectual attainment. Although she is now grateful for their protectiveness, McGonigal says it seemed like "lockdown" at the time, she describes her upbringing as "both good and stressful". She received a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Mass Communication from Boston University, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she is a lecturer in psychology and teaching a public course on willpower.

A practitioner of meditation, McGonigal was the chief editor of peer-reviewed journal the International Journal of Yoga Therapy from 2005 to 2012 and advocated yoga and similar mindfulness practices as a way to re-charge and direct attention and mental resources so as to achieve desired outcomes. The rationale was based on studies on the effect of meditation on the brain, and the Ego depletion model, also called the 'strength' theory of self-control, proposed by a team led by Roy Baumeister. McGonigal's simple summary of the 'strength' theory of self-control: "Self-control is like a muscle. When used, it gets tired". As a writer and researcher on self-control, McGonigal has frequently been cited for her views on how willpower can be built up and directed. Having emphasized the role of meditation practices for fighting stress to enable better functioning in challenging circumstances, McGonigal altered her standpoint somewhat in 2013, and now emphasizes the attitude taken to stress as the crucial factor.

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