Areas of Expertise

Media Effects/Psychology, Computer/AI-mediated Communication, Social Media, Polarization and Social Change

Research interests

Yuanyi Chen is a doctoral candidate in the Missouri School of Journalism. Her research agenda centers on how different people process information, and how media technology interacts with individual characteristics to influence information processing, with a special focus on social media and AI technology, and the implications at the individual and societal levels. Her research addresses the influences of communication technology on cognition, attitude, affect, and behavior by revealing the mechanisms underlying the interaction of communication technology and the black box of humans’ information processing.

Her recent research on video communication concluded that being an audience member in video communication lowered individuals’ self-evaluation, self-esteem, aroused negative affect, increased attention paid to oneself and cosmetic surgery acceptance through activating objective self-awareness. And her study concerning mass communication and media revealed that partisans of the genetically modified food debate perceived an exact same news article of the issue as biased against their own side, the so-called hostile media perception. Such perception led to group polarization and a higher intention to engage in a series of discursive activities that aim at opinion promotion and initiating social change.

Yuanyi’s dissertation considers the effects of message production on senders themselves and contributes to the media effects scholarship by investigating how individuals’ opinion presentation and expression on social media impacts their own cognition, attitude, affect, and behavior. She is the editor assistant for the flagship journals in communication including Journal of Broadcast and Electronic Media and Computers in Human Behavior. Outside academia, Yuanyi collaborated with Internews Interactive, an international nonprofit news organization with 30 offices around the world, on a project that examines the effects of news information produced by local student reporters on local communities’ perceptions of other communities, the common community concerns, and the controversial issues.

In addition to the theoretical contributions, her research aims at providing a strong knowledge base to inform and inspire information producers, policy makers, corporate leaders, technologists, and media organizations for better decision-making.

Yuanyi was an instructor of record of JOURN 1000: The News Media: Journalism and Advertising in a Democratic Society, and she was a TA and guest lecturer of JOURN 1200: Fundamentals of Visual Journalism and Strategic Communication andJOURN 1300: Fundamentals of Written Journalism and Strategic Communication. Yuanyi worked as a reporter at the City TV station in Shaoguan city in Guandong Province, China. The TV station serves the Shaoguan city with an audience more than 2 million. She was an editor for the NetEase news website, which is a top 3 internet company in China.

Certificates and honors

Quantitative Research Certificate                                                                              Fall 2022
Granted by Education, School, and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri        

Online Teaching Certificate                                                                                        Fall 2021
University of Missouri

Outstanding Graduate Student Scholarship                                                            Aug. 2017
Journalism and Information School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

The First-class Academic Scholarship                                                                      Aug. 2017
Journalism and Information School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

The Second-Class Academic Scholarship                                                                 Aug. 2016
Journalism and Information School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Outstanding Member of Student Representatives’ League                                    Jun. 2014
School of Humanities and Journalism, Ocean University of China

Relevant research experience

A. Peer-Reviewed Publications

Chen, Y. (2017). The formation and evolvement of public opinion on accidental events in the era            of we-media: a case study of human stampede and crush in Shanghai. New Media            Research [J], 5-6. (In Chinese)

Bryant, J., Zhou, S., & Chen, Y. (2020). Media effects and people effects: How scholarship         matters. Communication & Society, 54, 1–26. [TSSCI]

Chen, Y., Zhou, S. (Under Review). GMF and hostile media: Effects of journalistic motive and   expertise on perception, polarization, and discursive activities. Mass Communication &           Society. [SSCI]

Chen, Y., Zhou, S. (Under Review). Impacts of video communication on psychological   wellbeing and cosmetic surgery acceptance. Computers in Human Behavior. [SSCI]

B. Research in Progress

Chen, Y., & Zhou, S. (2022). Comparison of the representation of Omicron on social media: A   content analysis of sentiment, persuasion techniques, scientific uncertainty.

Chen, Y., & Zhou, S. (2022) What if your comrade opposes you? New evidence from online                   forums about COVID-19-related issues under the framework of the SIDE model.

Chen, Y., (2022). Exploring the boundaries of hostile media effects: Under the framework           of social identity theory.

Chen, Y. (2022). “Let’s meet on Zoom”: Impacts of video-mediated communication on   communication effectiveness and individual satisfaction.

Chen, Y. (2022). Effects of numbers, tones, and group membership of user comments on news    perception of, attitude toward, and behavior concerning COVID-19 precautions.

Zhou, S., Kiesow, D., & Chen, Y. (2021). Influences of news affordances on readers’       information processing, elaboration, news evaluation, and news reading satisfaction.

C. Conference Papers

Chen, Y., Zhou, S. & Fu, X. (2022). Are media still hostile under the firewall: Effects of group    membership and credibility. Paper presented at 2022 Midwinter Conference of          Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, Norman, Oklahoma.

Chen, Y. (2022). “I’ll meet you on Zoom.” Impacts of video-mediated communication on             communication effectiveness. Paper presented at 2022 Southeast Colloquium of           Association for Education in journalism & Mass Communication, Memphis, TN.

Chen, Y., Zhou, S. & Fu, X. (2021). Are media still hostile in an authoritarian media system:      effects of media reach and source credibility. Paper presented at 2021 Network for Public Opinion Research-Asia Pacific Communication Alliance Annual Conference,        Bangkok, Thailand.

Chen, Y. & Zhou, S. (2021). I think media is against me: Causal links of hostile media effects     and its implications. Paper presented at 2021 Midwinter Conference of Association for      Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, Norman, Oklahoma. 

Wang, B. & Chen, Y. (2016). The influential factors of electronic supervision over           adolescents from the perspective of parents-children interaction. Paper presented at the     2016 Public Relations Society of China – Public Relations and Advertising International   Forum, Hong Kong.