About

Fuyuan Shen is the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Advertising and the Head of the Department of Advertising/Public Relations at Pennsylvania State University. He is a faculty affiliate of the Media Effects Research Lab and teaches courses on media planning, advertising campaigns, strategic communications, and research methods. Shen's research integrates theories from social psychology, cultural psychology, and communications to explore the effects of media messages. His work has examined how advertising and health message frames interact with individual differences to influence attitudes toward brands, issues, and other behavioral, cognitive, and affective responses. Additionally, he has conducted research on the impact of political advertising and news framing of social and political issues. Shen has published numerous articles in prominent journals such as the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Mass Communication and Society.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Advertising
• Social Science
• Social psychology
• Sociology
• Business
• Literature
• Applied psychology
• Nursing
• Developmental psychology
• Art
• Public relations

Selected publications

• A meta-analytic review of self-benefit and other-benefit appeals in charity advertising

  International Journal of Advertising · 2026-04-29

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Revisiting Reading Research: Implications for EFL Reading Instruction in Taiwan

  English Language Teaching · 2026-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this study I provide a historical-analytic review of seminal United States reading research from the mid-20th century to the present, exploring its implications for EFL reading instruction in Taiwan. Using a thematic approach, I examine the First-Grade Studies and landmark reports presented by well-known research teams, including the Commission on Reading (COR), the National Reading Panel (NRP), the National Literacy Panel (NLP) and the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). The analysis reveals that while U.S. research has evolved through behaviourist, cognitive and sociocultural paradigms, it consistently identifies five core instructional components: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension strategies. However, these reports have faced significant critiques regarding methodological selectivity, the narrowing of instructional possibilities and the tendency to treat reading as decontextualised cognitive skills rather than socially situated practices. For the Taiwanese EFL context, the study highlights that second-language (L2) reading involves unique linguistic demands – such as cross-linguistic transfer – that L1-based models do not fully address. I conclude that U.S. research should be viewed as a conceptual resource rather than a prescriptive template. I advocate for instructional eclecticism and urge educators to adapt L1 research findings to the EFL classroom’s sociocultural realities for designing a context-responsive reading pedagogy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of state-sponsored political posts on perceived credibility and persuasion

  Journal of Information Technology & Politics · 2025-04-15

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• To Tell or Not to Tell: Investigating the Persuasive Appeal of Information Transparency for AR-Powered E-Commerce Sites

  International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · 2025-05-08 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Inclusion in action: how brand commitment impacts perception of transgender-inclusive activist ads

  International Journal of Advertising · 2025-07-13 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Trans‐scale hierarchical metasurfaces for multispectral compatible regulation of lasers, infrared light, and microwaves

  Nanophotonics · 2025-07-31 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Electromagnetic scattering control of optical windows has significant challenges in improving optical transmission and compatibility, especially for multispectral and large‐angle incidences, due to material and structure mismatches. This paper presents trans‐scale hierarchical metasurfaces (THM) to achieve wide‐angle optical transmission enhancement and electromagnetic scattering‐compatible regulation in dual‐band lasers, and infrared and microwave ranges. THM comprises an ultrafine hollow metal array (UHMA) and a transmission‐enhanced micro‐nanocone array (TMCA). The UHMA regulates microwave radar cross‐section (RCS) echo diffuse reflection, while the upper‐layer TMCA enables wide‐angle optical transmission enhancement. A THM sample of 200 × 200 mm 2 was fabricated using multistage nanolithography, demonstrating exceptional multifunctional compatibility and optical performance. Results show that the THM sample achieves 10 dB scattering reduction in the 9.5–17.5 GHz microwave band, with average optical transmittance exceeding 90 % at 0°–60° incidence angles within optical ranges of 1.42, 1.7, and 3–5 μm. Compared to a zinc sulfide (ZnS) window with a UHMA on its surface, the THM improved the average transmission by 34.3 % over wide angles while allowing microwave scattering control. Broadband polarization‐independent, low‐crosstalk imaging, and hydrophobic characteristics were demonstrated. This study provides a design approach for multifunctional devices with synergistic optical and microwave regulation, particularly for optical transparency in microwave devices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Why fall for misinformation? Role of information processing strategies, health consciousness, and overconfidence in health literacy

  Journal of Health Psychology · 2024-08-22 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  Health misinformation, defined as false or misleading claims lacking scientific evidence, poses a significant threat to public health. This paper investigates factors associated with the failure to discern misinformation, including health consciousness, information processing strategies, and inaccurate self-assessments of health literacy. Through an online experiment involving 707 English-speaking U.S. participants (mean age = 43 years, 56.2% female), we found that misinformation beliefs about nutrition, vaccination, vaping, and cancer were significantly correlated, implying susceptibility across health topics. Greater susceptibility was associated with higher health consciousness, lower objective health literacy, more elaboration, and more selective scanning. Results provided evidence for the Dunning-Kruger effect and metacognitive monitoring errors, whereby confident individuals were unaware of inadequate health literacy and showed poor misinformation identification. Findings suggest that promoting both health literacy education and cognitive reflection skills among the general adult population could empower them to more critically evaluate online health information.

  PublisherDOI

• Once Upon a Time… A Story of Narratives in Public Communication

  2023-05-15

  book-chapterSenior author

  This chapter synthesizes and reviews the topics and theories examined in the book’s chapters, highlighting new contributions and methodological innovations from a global context. The chapter looks to the future, identifying areas that need additional research to enhance our understanding of the use and impact of narratives in the field of communication. The chapter covers both conceptual and methodological aspects related to narrative research.

  PublisherDOI

• Irritating or Enjoyable? Exploring the Effects of Soft-Text Native Advertising and Social Media Engagement Metrics

  Journal of Promotion Management · 2023-01-22 · 10 citations

  articleSenior author

  This research explored the underlying mechanisms of soft-text native advertising’s effectiveness, as well as the impact of engagement metrics of social media advertising. An online experiment among Chinese consumers was conducted. The results showed that compared to hard-sell social media advertising, soft-text native advertising is more effective in inducing favorable attitudes toward ads and products as well as greater purchase intentions. This is achieved through inducing higher perceived entertainment, flow experience, ad value and lower perceived irritation. In addition, social media engagement metrics can significantly affect consumers’ purchase intentions through influencing perceived ad entertainment. The findings contributed to the native advertising literature and provided practical implications to advertising practitioners.

  PublisherDOI

• Effects of green messages in advertisements: a meta-analysis

  International Journal of Advertising · 2023-09-05 · 22 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  AbstractOver the years, scholars have conducted a number of studies to examine the effectiveness of green messages in advertisements. But a gap in knowledge remains regarding how and to what extent such messages are effective in changing advertising and brand attitudes and purchase intentions. To fill the gap, we analyzed published experiment-based studies to investigate the persuasive impact of green messages in advertisements and developed a research model outlining the relationships between the key variables. Results of the meta-analysis suggested that overall, green ads had significant effects on ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Such effects, however, varied across several moderating conditions. These results have both practical and theoretical implications.Keywords: Green advertisinggreen messagesmeta-analysis Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Bruce L. Smith

  10 shared

• Heidi Hatfield Edwards

  Florida Institute of Technology

  7 shared

• Jeff Conlin

  University of Kansas

  5 shared

• Jiangxue Han

  First Hospital of Jiaxing

  5 shared

• Frank E. Dardis

  Pennsylvania State University

  5 shared

• Alisa White

  The University of Texas at Tyler

  5 shared

• Michail Vafeiadis

  Auburn University

  4 shared

• Michelle Baker

  Pennsylvania State University

  4 shared

Labs

• Media Effects Research LabPI

  Investigates social and psychological effects of technological elements unique to web-based mass-communication.

Education

• Ph.D., Communication

  University of Southern California

  1995

• M.A., Communication

  University of Southern California

  1992

• B.A., Communication Studies

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1989

Awards & honors

• Deans’ Excellence Awards for Research
• Deans’ Excellence Award for Integrated Scholarship