To hide their true emotions, people often resort to the “rule of display” – for example, saying “thank you” after receiving an unwanted gift. Such behavior is a consequence of the application of one of the norms of behavior that determine socially acceptable reactions to emotions.
Scientists from the University of Tokyo (Japan) checked whether such rules for reflecting emotions apply to emoji, and how they affect people in this case, EurekAlert reports.
As communication on the Internet becomes more common, people have become accustomed to embellishing their statements and carefully checking the relevance of their communication, the researchers note. “However, this can lead to a loss of connection with our real emotions.
To investigate how emoji are used to express or disguise emotions, the researchers looked at data from 1,289 users of Simeji, the most downloaded emoji keyboard in Japan.
Previous research has shown that people use emoji as functional equivalents of facial expressions, but not as a link between expressed and experienced emotions.
The “demonstration rules” have more effect on negative emotions, which are usually considered less appropriate to express. It is also often more acceptable to express emotions to someone who is closer to you, and it may be more acceptable for certain genders to express certain emotions. The expression of negative emotions may also be considered more acceptable in more individualistic societies.
This is where “the rules of ‘demonstration’ can be problematic: if the dissonance between the emotions you experience and the emotions you can express is too great, emotional exhaustion can develop, although people of different cultures experience this differently,” the article notes.
Study participants provided their demographics, answered questions about subjective well-being, and rated how often they used emojis. They received messages with different social contexts, reacted to them as usual, and assessed the intensity of the expression of their emotions.
It turned out that:
- people expressed more emotions with emoji in private contexts or with close friends;
- respondents expressed the least emotions in relation to persons with a higher status; intense expression of emotion was accompanied by appropriate emoji, unless people felt the need to mask their real emotions—for example, by using smiling emoji to mask negative emotions;
- negative emoji were only used when negative feelings were very strong;
- expressing emotions with emojis was associated with higher subjective well-being compared to masking emotions.
The researchers note that the Simeji keyboard is very popular among young women, which biased the study sample towards women and Generation Z. However, this also reflects a gender imbalance in emoji use in general.
Also, the Japanese culture’s emphasis on interpersonal harmony and concealment of negative emotions could also have influenced the results.
Source: EurekAlert
Emoji in law: American courts accept smileys as evidence (INFOGRAPHICS)
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.