Emily Falk, Ph.D.
Presenter: Emily Falk, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Marketing
Associate Dean for Research
University of Pennsylvania
Overview
We are facing global challenges including intertwined mental health crises, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, spikes in our collective blood pressure, more frequent and severe climate disasters, and the anxiety that comes with all of this. How do we maintain wellness and a sense of well-being in the face of all of these challenges? Dr. Falk will present findings from her recent interdisciplinary work in neuroscience, psychology, and communication science, aimed at understanding pieces of this question. She will highlight purpose in life as one psychological resource linked to wellness behaviors and describe how sharing with other people can serve as a vehicle to shift norms related to wellness.
Biography
Dr. Emily Falk studies behavior change, persuasion, and how ideas and behaviors spread. Dr. Falk is a Professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and Operations, Information and Decisions, at the University of Pennsylvania; Associate Dean for Research at the Annenberg School for Communication; Director of Penn's Communication Neuroscience Lab; and a Distinguished Fellow of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
Emily is an expert in the science of behavior change. Her research uses tools from psychology, neuroscience, and communication to examine what makes messages persuasive, why and how ideas spread, and what makes people effective communicators. Her research has been recognized by numerous awards, including early career awards from the International Communication Association, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Attitudes Division, a Fulbright grant, the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. She was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.
She received her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Brown University and her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
