Faculty and Staff

PhD Psychology, University of Toronto

MA Psychology, University of Toronto

BSc (Hons) Psychology, University of Alberta

Dr. Francis' teaching interests include social psychology, statistics, research methods, introduction to psychology, and health psychology.

Dr. Francis' research focuses on self-regulation, mental fatigue, and people's perceptions of self-control. Many of her research questions ask how self-regulation dynamically fluctuates across the course of a task, the course of the day, or across longer periods of time. She is especially interested in how people's personal beliefs and expectations affect how they experience self-control. For example, people who believe that their self-control "runs out" with use tend to be relatively less physically active later in the day (compared to people who believe that using self-control puts them "in the zone") and are also less likely to provide support to their romantic partners in the evening.

Dr. Francis' self-regulation research encompasses a broad range of outcomes, including (i) health-related behaviours like snacking, physical activity, and gym attendance, (ii) interpersonal actions like providing social support, feeling empathy, selecting teammates, and person-perception, and (iii) performance on cognitive tasks and attention engagement. She is also an advocate for open science and transparent research practices.