About
Hi, I'm Kris.
I came to psychology by an uncommon route. I grew up in a small town in southeast Michigan, where not many people set out for a place like Stanford. I was the first in my family to go to college, and I helped pave the way by playing sports while challenging my mind. As a result, long before I could name what I was studying, I was preoccupied with a question: how is it that people can face the same situation and end up in such different places? I eventually learned that mindset was one piece of the puzzle.
Today, I'm a social psychologist at Stanford studying how the mindsets we hold, and what we believe about those mindsets, shape health and performance. My dissertation introduced Mindset Regulation Theory and validated the Controllable Mindset measure. I developed Mindset Yoga Training, a holistic intervention approach that combines mindset education with yoga-based practice to enhance well-being, performance, and our ability to regulate our own mindsets. As a Wu Tsai Human Performance Fellow, I lead a project on the health, well-being, and performance of college student-athletes.
Alongside my research, I teach, mentor, and consult. If any of this resonates, or you think we might work together, I'd love to hear from you.