Anyone who throws bitter truths or untruths at others electronically likes to garnish them with a conciliatory emoticon. Moyu Liu, a scientist at the University of Tokyo , is intensively involved in scientific research with emoji allocation.
“As online socialization becomes more common, people have become accustomed to embellishing their expressions and checking the appropriateness of their communications. It made me realize that this can cause us to lose touch with our authentic emotions.”
Moyu Liu, University of Tokyo
Emotional exhaustion threatens
Liu recruited 1,289 participants, all users of Simeji, the most downloaded emoji keyboard in Japan. The aim was to examine how users use emojis. You can express emotions or cover them up. Previous research had shown that people use emojis as functional equivalents of facial expressions, but not the relationships between real and disguised emotions. The scientist warns:
“When the discrepancy between the emotions you experience and the emotions you express is too great, emotional exhaustion can develop.”
Moyu Liu, University of Tokyo
Participants also shared demographic data, answered questions about their subjective well-being and reported how often they use emoticons. They received messages with different social contexts, responded to them as usual and rated the intensity of the expression of their emotions.
Real emotions only for friends
According to Liu, people are more likely to truthfully reveal emotions using emojis in private contexts with close friends. Respondents showed the least amount of emotion towards people of higher status. Intense emotional expressions came with appropriate emojis, unless people felt the need to mask their true emotions by using smiling emojis.
Negative emoticons were only used where very strong negative feelings came into play. Expressing emotions with emojis was associated with higher subjective well-being than hiding emotions.
“As online socialization becomes more common, it is important to consider whether it is making us more disconnected from our true emotions.”
Moyu Liu, University of Tokyo
Source:
Press release
Already read? The Freiburg police warn of false news circulating about an alleged child abduction at a primary school in Freiburg. A Mimikama fact check: Allegation of alleged child abduction at Tulla School in Freiburg is fabricated
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )