Emoticons and social interaction on the Internet: the importance of social context (original) (raw)
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Emoticons in computer-mediated communication: Social motives and social context
CyberPsychology & …, 2008
The study consisted of an online questionnaire about the social motives for emoticon use and an experimental part in which participants (N ؍ 1,251) had to respond to short Internet chats. In these chats, the interaction partner (friend vs. stranger) and the valence of the context (positive vs. negative) were manipulated. Results showed that emoticons are mostly used to express emotion, to strengthen a message, and to express humor. Furthermore, more emoticons were used in communication with friends than in communication with strangers, and more emoticons were used in a positive context than in a negative context. Participants seem to use emoticons in a way similar to facial behavior in face-to-face communication with respect to social context and interaction partner.
The Influence of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer Mediated-Communication (MA Thesis)
2008
One of the striking features of communicating via new media technologies such as instant messaging (IM), is its capacity to provide individuals with innovative means to simulate emotional expression while interacting in a real time online setting. Static and animated, graphic-based emoticons are often added to achieve these communicative functions in development of personal friendships, relationships, and even the therapeutic alliance within counselling relationships. However, little research has investigated the role of these graphical emoticons in IM communication. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to provide a needed empirical investigation into how these emoticons influenced participants’ interpretation of instant message statements. Specifically, this thesis involved an exploration of how different types of emoticons influenced, (a) participants’ ability to accurately interpret the emotion conveyed by instant message statements and (b) participants’ level of certainty about their message interpretations, across “clear” or “unclear” conditions of emotional valence clarity. Furthermore, this study also explored whether an interaction was present between emoticon exposure and the emotional valence clarity. The sample consisted of 121 adult male and female participants from Canada and the United States. Overall, the presence of an emoticon led to more accurate performance scores in message interpretation regardless of the emotional valence clarity, compared to the absence of emoticons. Clear, affectively valenced messages resulted in more accurate performance than unclear (neutral or ambiguous) messages. A significant interaction effect revealed that emoticons have the greatest effect on accurate message interpretation when the message itself is unclear. Simple and complex emoticons were virtually identical in their ability to facilitate accurate interpretations, in any valence condition. Despite near equivalence in terms of accuracy, complex emoticons were inferior to simple emoticons in facilitating participants’ certainty about their interpretations. The presence of simple emoticons alone resulted in significant, high levels of certainty compared to their absence. Interestingly, emotional valence did not impact participant certainty. Interaction effects in the context of certainty were also nonexistent. Possible reasons for the differing pattern of results and findings are explained. Finally, implications of these patterns and explanations for IM friendships, relationships and clinical practice are discussed.
A Study on Gender Perception on Emoticon in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the gender perception of emoticon in computer mediated-communication (CMC) in the Southern American College classroom. Participants were 74 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of courses at University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, who are familiar with using emoticons in web based context. Results indicate that (a) there were no significant difference perception between male and female using positive emoticon in social context, (b) there were no significant difference between male and female using positive emoticon in positive message and (c) there are no significant difference between male and female especially in happy, humor and attitude towards the positive message with positive emoticon. Future research should continue to extend these efforts by examining the ways emoticon used in real situation as in web messenger, virtual forum or community portal, to better understand the spontaneous interactions between recipient and sender. (US version) Technology enhances the way people communicate in the modern world. Communicating through the new channel of communication is becoming a trend in today’s environment. There are many issues pertaining on this medium whereby gender bias has contributed to the sustainability of it. The usage of emoticon has tremendously well accepted by the user when the message can be understood clearly without face-to-face interaction. When we use it as if, the face of the sender is in front of the computer screen when receiver receives the message. However, the amount and consistency of emoticon used in daily communication is debatable. Thus, this study tried to investigate is there any significant difference between male and female recipient when they receive the message.
Emoticons and Online Message Interpretation
The present study experimentally examines the impact of emoticons on message interpretation among secondary school students (N = 105). Furthermore, perceived motives for emoticon use are examined. Results show that emoticons do have an impact on message interpretation. Emoticons are useful in strengthening the intensity of a verbal message. Furthermore, it is possible to create ambiguity and express sarcasm online by varying the valence of the emoticon and the valence of the message. Overall, the authors conclude that to a large extent, emoticons serve the same functions as actual nonverbal behavior.
The Faces of Messenger Emoticons in the Virtual Communication
2011
The present study examines the virtual communication-related habits on Yahoo Messenger, focusing especially on the role of the potentially emotion expressing icons in the online speech. The basis of the research consists of structured i nterviews that are completed by spontaneous instant messaging conversations of which three are presented in the paper. The interview subjects/discussion partners are individuals in th eir twenties, most of them are graduates. Apart from rating the emotico ns into categories, the study - inter alia - seeks answers to the following questions: what kind of general and individual meanings are associated with the emoticons by the users of the Messenger, how do smileys complete written communication, furthermore what does their presence indi cate regarding the relationship between discussion partners.
Emoticon use in computer-mediated business communication is not as customary as emotional expression in face-to-face interactions, yet it may affect interpersonal perception in almost similar ways as emotions affect interpersonal perception in face-to-face interactions through 'Social-Information-Processing' (Walther, 1992(Walther, , 1994 and by using 'Emotions-as-Social-Information' (Van Kleef, 2010). Therefore, the effect of emoticons on interpersonal perceptions (of power, competence, warmth, status, and morality) in computer-mediated business communication with potential employers differing in professional status was investigated. Both emoticon use and professional status were expected to affect interpersonal perception in a sense that higher emoticon use and lower professional status should negatively influence interpersonal perception. These expectations were partially confirmed since there were effects on power, competence, status, and morality, but not on warmth. Yet, extending and applying Social-Information-Processing theory and Emotions-as-Social-Information model to computer-mediated communication, it can be concluded that emoticons have an effect on interpersonal perception and are used as social information in order to form an impression about someone through computer-mediated communication.
Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students' text messages
Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications & Services, 2020
Emoticons are pictographic representations of facial expressions that are used to convey emotions in text messages and other similar methods of communication. Most research on emoticons has examined how they are used in public forums rather than in private messaging. Using a sample of undergraduate students (n=106; male 52.83%; mean age 20.26 years, SD 1.93), this study examines the use of emoticons in private text communication. Results reveal that emoticon usage is highest amongst friends, followed by siblings, then parents, other family members and more distant connections. Emoticons representing positive emotions are more commonly used than those representing strong negative emotions. Emoticons representing relief were found to be used particularly within peer group communication, whereas emoticons representing contentment were used more with family members and other, more distant, connections. The use of the "Relieved" emoticon with peers may reflect overcoming the stressors associated with shared educational challenges, whereas using the "Content" emoticon outside peers and family may represent emotional modulation and presentation.
EMOTICONS IN CYBERSPACE FACILITATE COMMUNICATION
Meaning is described as "the system of mental representations of an object or phenomenon, its properties and associations with other objects and/or phenomena." For human beings, meaning is reflected in the form of sensory information, images and concepts.” (Bedny & Karwowsky, 2004). It is either denotative or connotative. Connotation basically includes: pragmatic and semiotic levels. Connotation and denotation are often described in terms of levels of representation or levels of meaning. Roland Barthes adopted from Louis Hjelmslev the notion that there are different orders of signification (Barthes, 1957; & Hjelmslev, 1961 in Herring, 2009). The first order of signification is that of denotation: at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a signified. Connotation is a second-order of signification which uses the denotative sign (signifier and signified) as its signifier and attaches to it an additional signified. In this framework connotation is a sign which derives from the signifier of a denotative sign (so denotation leads to a chain of connotations). For most semioticians both denotation and connotation entail the use of codes. Structural semioticians who highlight the relative arbitrariness of signifiers and social semioticians who stress multiplicity of interpretation and the importance of cultural and historical contexts are hardly likely to accept the notion of a 'literal' meaning. The denotative meaning of a sign would be broadly agreed upon by members of the same culture, whereas 'nobody is ever taken to task because their connotations are incorrect', so no inventory of the connotative meanings generated by any sign could ever be complete, just because they are language specific. (Bamard, 1996 in Herring, 2009) The present research paper relies on the social semioticians' concept with the null hypothesis that emoticons are interpreted in the cultural and historical contexts of any specific language. Methodology is of qualitative research type and the technique favored for data collection is field notes and diaries. Participants in the project included two post graduate candidates, each comprising 16 tech literate students. Students in group A were TEFL majored and those in group B were majored in Persian literature. They were asked to communicate through emoticons, while storing them in databases already developed to that end. Data elicitation was basically based on e-mailing system and the databases. The candidates were given positive feedback for developing novel, identifiable, comprehensive and mutually exclusive emoticons. This process was continued for one semester. Number and exactness of emoticons saved in each candidate’s database and the usage made out of them were effective factors in data analysis. The qualitative analysis of the results, which were tabularized, significantly rejects the null hypothesis. Discussion: Based on the finding, it is safe to say that the students’ field of study does not affect the semiotic interpretation and understanding of the connotative meaning of emoticons. The performance
Relationships between Emotional States and Emoticons in Mobile Phone Email Communication in Japan
2009
Three related studies conducted on the role of emotional transfer in email messages were studied in order to better understand Japanese college students' online communications and their broader participation in online communications. The first study investigated users' initiatives in preventing emotional misunderstandings when sending email. Results showed message writers used emoticons as "flame deterrent" devices intended to prevent their partner's emotional aggravation. The second study examined the relationships between four emotional states -anger, joy, sadness, and guilt -and four different emoticons corresponding to these emotional states. The results suggest that the selection and use of emoticons in cell phone email communication are positively related to the emotional states experienced at the time the message is composed. However, it seems that as the emotional strength increases, the use of emoticons decreases. The third study examined the relationships between the degrees of anger and guilt and the use of emoticons and found that when there are strong negative emotions (e.g., anger and guilt), there is a tendency to decrease the use of emoticons in the outgoing messages. It is hoped that such findings with informal, mobile communications can be applied to more formal academic online communications.
The Use of Emoticons among University Students: A Pragmatic Study
Emoticons , 2019
The current study aims to find out the possible ways that university students from scientific departments at (college of basic education-Salahaddin University-Erbil) make use of Emoticons when they communicate using any online medium that is applicable for communication. Questionnaire is used as an effective tool for data collection. This study attempts to find whether they can differentiate between emoticons and emoji , and the situations in which university students use emoticons in academic communication or in socio-emotional communication, the study also tries to find whether females use emoticons more than males or viceversa. The results indicate that participants were aware of the differences that exist between emoticons and emoji besides the readers of this study would expect certain results, including that females use emoticons more than males.