This study examined how emoticons influence the perception of messages in computer-mediated communication. 77 participants engaged in an online chat about a dry campus policy and then rated their conversation partner. Results showed that those who were less emotionally stable and more agreeable were more likely to use emoticons. Participants perceived chat partners using positive emoticons with optimistic messages as more agreeable. A wink emoticon led to higher perceived extraversion ratings. The study provides insight into how personality and emoticons can affect impressions during online conversations.

1. THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTICONS ON
RECEIVER PERCEPTION
LAUREN DEINTINIS
FAITH GOVAN
BRIAN MCELVENEY
PENN STATE BEHREND

2. Source: www.glasbergen.com

3. 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)

4. Research Topic
• Increase in Electronic and Computer-
Mediated Communication
Loss of Non-verbal cues
• Scott Fahlman creates the “Smiley” in 1981
:-) :-( ;-)

5. 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)

6. Research Questions
• Who uses emoticons?
• How are emoticons used?
• Do emoticons affect the impression of
another’s personality in an online chat?

7. 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

8. Materials

9. Materials
Perception Questionnaire
1 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.

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

11. Informed Consent
Participant
Questionnaire
Big Five
Questionnaire
Chat About
“Dry Campus”
Article
Positive Negative Wink None
Big Five
Questionnaire
Perception
Questionnaire
Debriefing/Credite
Source: www.cultureflock.com d

13. Emoticon use in everyday
communication
R 2 = .12, F = 3.21, p = .028*
– Agreeableness β = .19, p = .096
– Extraversion β = .14, p = .222
– Emotional Stability β = -.26, p = .022*

14. Using Emoticons to Express Humor?
R 2 = .20, F = 6.09, p = .001*
– Agreeableness β = .26, p = .031*
– Conscientiousness β = .26, p = .028*
– Emotional Stability β = -.21, p = .049*

15. Results: Big Five Personality Ratings Based
on Emoticon Type
F (3, 73) = 2.94, p = .039* F (3,73) = .877, p = .457
F (3, 73) = .844, p = .474 F (3,73) = .623, p = .602
F (3, 73) = 1.27, p = .291

16. Results: Chat Analyses

17. 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)

18. 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

19. 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:

20. References

21. 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.