Responsiveness in Text Messaging, 2017

This research investigated the role of emoji in the communication of perceived responsiveness—conveying understanding, validation, and care to another person—through text messages. Participants (n= 323 college students) read a text message conversation between two individuals where Person A (the discloser) discussed a negative event with Person B (the responder), who attempted to convey responsiveness to Person A’s situation. Participants were randomly assigned to review one of two versions of the conversation: Person B either used or did not use emoji in their responses. Participants rated the perceived responsiveness of Person B toward Person A in subsections of text exchanges. The sample consisted of 323 college students (72 males, 245 females, 6 not reported; Mean age = 20.77 years, SD = 5.40, Range = 18-56). The sample was fairly diverse: 107 White or Caucasian, 72 Asian or Pacific Islander, 42 Black or African American, 33 Hispanic or Latino, 23 Middle Eastern, 2 West Indian or Caribbean, and 33 Multiracial (11 not reported). The sample almost exclusively consisted of smartphone users (99%; 312 participants) and 72.8% (227 participants) of smartphone users reported having an Apple phone. Most of the sample used emoji with only 4.3% (14 participants) reporting that they do not use emoji. Brooklyn College IRB: 2016-0682

本研究探讨了表情符号（Emoji）在文本消息沟通中对感知响应性的作用——感知响应性即向他人传递理解、确认与关怀的沟通效果。
323名大学生被试阅读了两人间的文本对话场景：披露者A向回应者B讲述一件负面事件，B则尝试向A传达对其处境的响应性回应。被试被随机分配至两组，分别阅读两种对话版本：B在回复中使用表情符号，或未使用表情符号。随后，被试针对各段文本交互，对B向A所展现的感知响应性进行评分。
本次样本共323名大学生，其中男性72名、女性245名，6名被试未报告性别；平均年龄为20.77岁，标准差（Standard Deviation，SD）为5.40，年龄范围为18至56岁。样本具有较好的多样性：107名白人或高加索裔、72名亚裔或太平洋岛民、42名黑人或非裔美国人、33名西班牙裔或拉丁裔、23名中东裔、2名西印度裔或加勒比裔，以及33名多种族群体（11名被试未报告种族信息）。
样本几乎全部为智能手机用户（占比99%，共312人），其中72.8%的智能手机用户（227人）使用苹果手机。绝大多数被试日常使用表情符号，仅4.3%（14名被试）表示自己不使用表情符号。
本研究的伦理审查机构为布鲁克林学院机构审查委员会（Brooklyn College IRB），审批编号为2016-0682。