Elisa Baek

Elisa Baek is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California (USC) within the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on social connection, including neural mechanisms underlying social bonding, information sharing, and health communication. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania (2019) and completed postdoctoral training at UCLA (2019–2022).

Dr. Baek's work employs interdisciplinary methods from psychology, neuroscience, and network science to explore topics like loneliness, persuasion in health messaging, and social network dynamics. The Social Connection Lab (SoCoLab) at USC, directed by Baek, investigates how social ties influence well-being and applies findings to improve public health outcomes.

Her research highlights the interplay between neural responses and social behaviors, emphasizing the importance of moral alignment, community congruence, and cognitive dynamics in shaping social interactions. Recent studies examine misinformation sharing, emotion prediction accuracy in lonely individuals, and the role of moral values in communication effectiveness.