THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTICONS ON RECEIVER PERCEPTION

L AU R E N D E I N T I N I S

FA I T H G OVA N

B R I A N M C E LV E N E Y

P E N N S TAT E B E H R E N D

Source: www.glasbergen.com

Electronic Communication

• 87% of teens engage in some form of electronic communication (Pew Internet Project, 2008)

• 43% of teenagers now say texting is the number one reason they get a cell phone (Nielson, 2010)

• Voice usage has decreased by 14% among teens and is decreasing in all age groups under 55 (Nielson, 2010)

Research Topic

• Increase in Electronic and Computer-Mediated Communication

Loss of Non-verbal cues • Scott Fahlman creates the “Smiley” in

1981

:-) :-( ;-)

Previous Research

• Some non-verbal information is not transferred fully (McKenna & Bargh, 2000).

• Emoticons support written communication like non-verbal cues (Rezabek and Cochenour, 1998)

• Emoticons affect emotions felt in receiver (Luor, Wu, Lu & Tao, 2010)

Research Questions

• Who uses emoticons?• How are emoticons used?• Do emoticons affect the impression

of another’s personality in an online chat?

Participants

• 77 Participants – 35 Males, 42 Females– 18-39 years old, M=19 years old

• Research Participation Pool• Ethical Guidelines and Informed

consent following IRB approval

MaterialsParticipant QuestionnaireHow many hours per day do you spend talking with someone electronically? ____ 0-2 ____ 2-4____ 4-6 ____ 6-8____ 8+ hours

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Please rate your current mood

(1=very negative, 5= neutral, 9=very positive). _____

Opinion of Behrend as dry campus.

Materials

Perception Questionnaire1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9(1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Neutral, 9=Strongly Agree)• My chat partner is a likeable person. • My chat partner is persuasive in his/her argument. • I enjoyed communicating with this person. • I would communicate with this person again. • I use emoticons in everyday non-verbal communication. • I only use emoticons in conversations with friends and family.• I use emoticons more when my conversation partner uses

emoticons. • I use emoticons to express humor. • I use emoticons to express sarcasm. • I use emoticons to express sadness.

Materials

Big Five Personality Questionnaire (Saucier, 1994)• Forty-item inventory• Measured five personality traits:– Openness – Contentiousness – Extraversion– Agreeableness– Emotional Stability

Informed Consent

Participant Questionnaire

Chat About“Dry Campus”

Article

Positive

Wink NoneNegative

Big Five Questionnaire

Big Five Questionnaire

Perception Questionnaire

Debriefing/CreditedSource:

www.cultureflock.com

Emoticon use in everyday communication

R2 = .12, F = 3.21, p = .028*– Agreeableness β = .19, p = .096– Extraversion β = .14, p

= .222– Emotional Stability β = -.26, p

= .022*

Using Emoticons to Express Humor?

R2 = .20, F = 6.09, p = .001*– Agreeableness β = .26, p = .031*– Conscientiousness β = .26, p

= .028*– Emotional Stability β = -.21, p

= .049*

Positive Wink Negative None5

6

7

Agreeableness

Extraversion

Emotional Stability

Conscientiousness

Openess

Emoticon

Perc

eiv

ed

Part

ner

Tra

it

Rati

ng

Results: Big Five Personality Ratings Based on Emoticon Type

F (3, 73) = 2.94, p = .039*F (3, 73) = .844, p = .474F (3, 73) = 1.27, p = .291

F (3,73) = .877, p = .457F (3,73) = .623, p = .602

Results: Chat Analyses

Perso

nal G

reet

ing

For Dry

Cam

pus

Succ

essf

ul

On

Campu

s Livi

ng

Hos

tile

Respo

nse

Use

d Em

oticon

0

20

40

60

80

100

31.2 24.720.8

46.8

16.9 19.5

Perc

en

t A

ffirm

ati

ve

Discussion

• Less emotionally stable and the more agreeable, more likely to use emoticons.

• Chat partners are seen as more agreeable when they pair optimistic messages with positive emoticons– (Luor, Wu, Lu, and Tao, 2010)

• Participant’s perceived extraversion rating higher when a wink emoticon and support statement of campus going dry was used– Participants may have perceived the wink as a

form of sarcasm (Walther and D’Addario, 2001)

Limitations

• Participants – Limited to college students only– Small sample size

• Time constraints– Unable to look at both FOR and AGAINST

arguments

• Many variables– Larger interactions could not be

analyzed at this point in research

Implications• Emoticons do affect the emotions felt

by the receiver of a message• Personality does play a role in how

emoticons are perceived in a message

Source: http://technologyuninhibited.wordpress.com

ReferencesBrittan, D. (1995, October). The Shadow of

Your Smiley. Technology Review, 98(7).

Electronic Communication. (2008, May 22). In Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved April 10, 2012

Luor, T., Wu, L., Lu, H., & Tao, Y. (2010, March 5). The Effect of Emoticons in Simplex and Complex Task-Oriented Communication: An Empirical Study of Instant Messaging. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 889-895.

McKenna, K. Y., Bargh, J. A. (2004, July 11). The Internet and Social Life. Annual Review, 55(57), 573-590. doi: 10.1146

Rezabek, L. L., & Cochenour, J. J. (1998, Fall). Visual Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication: Supplementing Text With Emoticons. Journal of Visual Literacy, 18(2), 201-215.

U.S. Teen Mobile Report: Calling Yesterday, Texting Today, Using Apps Tomorrow. (2010, October 14). In Nielsen Wire. Retrieved April 9, 2012

Walther, J. B., & D’Addario, K. P. (2001, Fall). The Impacts of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer-Mediated Communication. Social Science Computer Review, 19(3), 324-347. doi: 10.1177/089443930101900307.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our faculty advisor, Dr. Dawn Blasko, for her continued support and guidance

throughout the duration of the study. We would also like to thank Dr. Robert Light, the senior associate dean of the Penn State Behrend Research Office,

for supporting this study with a research grant.