About me

I’m Soyeon, a postdoctoral researcher in the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with Dr. Nick Buttrick. I received my Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Michigan, advised by Dr. Josh Ackerman.

Research

I examine how individuals perceive ecological dimensions (e.g., pathogen prevalence, resource availability, environmental unpredictability) and how these perceptions shape motives and goal pursuit, particularly in the domain of social relationships. I employ various analytical methods, including controlled experiments, secondary survey data, social network data, and LLM agent-based modeling.

Research Areas: social cognition, relationship, motive, goal, evolution, ecology

Publications

Choi, S., Lee, K., Sng, O., Ackerman, J. M. (2025). Infected Smallville: How disease threat shapes sociality in LLM agents. International Conference on Machine Learning 2025 Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems in the Era of Foundation Models. 🔗

Ackerman, J. M., Samore, T., Fessler, D. M. T., Kupfer, T. R., Choi, S., Merrell, W. N., Aarøe, L., Aavik, T., Acabado, S., Akello, G., Alfian, I. N., Al-Shawaf, L., Alvarez, M. M., Ammann, J., Arikan, G., Asha, S. A., Astobiza, A. M., Baeza-Ugarte, C. G., Barclay, P., … Žeželj, I. (2025). I see sick people: Beliefs about sensory detection of infectious disease are largely consistent across cultures. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 128, 737-750. 🔗

Merrell, W. M., Choi, S., & Ackerman, J. M. (2024). When and why people conceal infectious disease. Psychological Science, 35(3), 215-225. 🔗

Choi, S., Merrell, W. N., & Ackerman, J. M. (2023). Safety first, but for whom? Shifts in risk perception for self and others following COVID-19 vaccination. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, e12757. 🔗

Choi, S., Merrell, W. N., & Ackerman, J. M. (2022). Keep your distance: Different roles for knowledge and affect in predicting social distancing behavior. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(12), 2847-2859. 🔗

Ackerman, J. M., Merrell, W. N., Choi, S. (2020). What people believe about detecting infectious disease using the senses. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 1, 100002. 🔗

Lee, D. I., Gardiner, G., Baranski, E., International Situations Project Members, & Funder, D. C. (2020). Situational experience around the world: A replication and extension in 62 countries. Journal of Personality, 88(6), 1091-1110. 🔗

Choi, S., & Suh, E. M. (2018). Retrospective time travel in life satisfaction judgment: A life history approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 129, 138-142. 🔗

Suh, E. M., & Choi, S. (2018). Predictors of subjective well-being across cultures. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of Subjective Well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers. 🔗