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）在通过文本消息传递感知回应性——即向他人传递理解、认可与关怀——过程中的作用。本研究招募323名大学生作为被试，令其阅读两人间的一则文本对话：其中分享者（Person A）向回应者（Person B）讲述了一则负面事件，回应者则试图向分享者的处境传递共情回应。被试被随机分配至两组实验条件之一，分别阅读两种对话版本之一：回应者在回复中使用或不使用表情符号。随后，被试针对各段文本交互内容，对回应者向分享者所展现出的感知回应性进行评分。本次有效样本共包含323名大学生，其中男性72人、女性245人，6人性别信息未报告；被试平均年龄为20.77岁，标准差为5.40，年龄区间为18至56岁。样本群体具有较好的多样性：107人为白人或高加索裔，72人为亚裔或太平洋岛裔，42人为黑人或非裔美国人，33人为西班牙裔或拉丁裔，23人为中东裔，2人为西印度群岛或加勒比裔，33人为多种族混血人群，另有11人人种背景信息未报告。样本中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）表示使用苹果手机。绝大多数被试日常使用表情符号，仅4.3%的被试（14人）表示从不使用表情符号。本研究已获得布鲁克林学院机构审查委员会（IRB）批准，审批编号为2016-0682。