The character arc of Ethan Kross

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a year the public record does not publish. Between then and now sit a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University, a postdoctoral fellowship in social-affective neuroscience, a move to the University of Michigan in 2008, a professorship in both psychology and management, the founding and direction of a laboratory on emotion and self control, research on what social media does to satisfaction with life, and a body of work on how people talk to themselves. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Ethan Kross?

The silent conversation in your head. He built a laboratory for it.

He was born and raised in Brooklyn, took a degree at the University of Pennsylvania, a doctorate in psychology at Columbia, and a postdoctoral fellowship in social-affective neuroscience, which is the field that sits where emotion, other people and the brain overlap.

Since 2008 he has been at the University of Michigan, where he is a professor in two departments at once, psychology and management, and where he founded and directs the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory. Holding a chair in a business school and a psychology department simultaneously is unusual, and it is a good indication of how portable his subject is.

The subject is introspection: what he calls the silent conversations people have with themselves, the internal dialogues that powerfully influence how they live their lives. Everybody has that voice. Almost nobody has studied it experimentally. His laboratory does.

The findings are the useful part. Research he conducted with a colleague at a Belgian university showed that the more a person uses a particular social network, the less satisfied they are with life. Other work of his found that the way people process negative experiences can reset the pattern, and that how you address yourself when you do it makes a measurable difference. He is a writer as well as a researcher, which is why the findings have reached people who do not read journals.

The moments

Ethan Kross's timeline.

The 1990s

~1990

A Brooklyn childhood

Everyday. Brooklyn, before any of the rest of it.

The 2000s

Sep 2000

Pennsylvania, then Columbia

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two of the hardest psychology departments in the country, in a row.

~2006

Social-affective neuroscience

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The field where emotion, other people and the brain all overlap.

Sep 2008

Michigan

Milestone, and it changed everything. A chair in psychology and a chair in management, at the same time.

1 Sep 2009

Which subject to found it on

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: study the inner voice, taken, or stay with measurable behaviour. The laboratory produced findings on self talk and on social media that reached far beyond psychology.

The 2010s

~2010

A laboratory of his own

Milestone, and it changed everything. A laboratory with emotion and self control in the title.

~2011

The silent conversation

Milestone, and it changed everything. The voice everybody has, and almost nobody had studied.

~2013

Social media and satisfaction

Milestone, and it changed everything. The more you use it, the less satisfied you are. Measured, not guessed.

~2016

Resetting the pattern

Milestone, and it changed his direction. How you go over a bad experience changes what it does to you.

The 2020s

26 Jan 2021

He writes it down

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The findings, taken out of the journals and put into a book.

The laboratory in Ann Arbor is still running experiments on the least visible thing there is. What he set moving is a set of tools for the voice that talks to you all day, which most people had assumed was simply weather rather than something you can learn to handle.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His is about the voice in your head, which is the one thing everybody has and nobody studies. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Ethan Kross: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Ethan Kross's character arc?

A Brooklyn boy who took a degree at Pennsylvania, a doctorate at Columbia and a fellowship in social-affective neuroscience, and then built a laboratory at Michigan devoted to the silent conversations people have with themselves.

What does Ethan Kross research?

The science of introspection, which he describes as the silent conversations people have with themselves, the internal dialogues that powerfully influence how they live. He also works on emotion regulation more broadly.

What did Ethan Kross find about social media?

A study he conducted with Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University in Belgium showed that the more a person uses Facebook, the less satisfied they are with life. It is one of the findings of his that travelled furthest beyond psychology.

Where does Ethan Kross work?

The University of Michigan, where he has been since 2008 and is a professor of both psychology and management, and where he founded and directs the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory. He lives in Ann Arbor.

What did Ethan Kross study?

He earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in social-affective neuroscience, the field where emotion, other people and the brain overlap.

Is Ethan Kross a writer?

Yes, as well as an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist. Writing is how the findings from his laboratory have reached people who do not open psychology journals, which for a subject as universal as the inner voice matters a great deal.

Where does this timeline of Ethan Kross's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Ethan Kross isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Ethan Kross, English Wikipedia biography.
University of Michigan records for his professorship from 2008 and the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory.
His study with Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University on social media use and life satisfaction.
His birth date is not in the public record reached, so this page states none.