The Positive and Negative Functions of Emoticons

Yulan YUAN, Zhanfang LI

Abstract


The term “emoticon”, short for “emotion icons”, has long drawn a lot of attention in computer-mediated communication. In order to obtain an overview of emoticons and clear the further study direction, the present thesis summarizes the functions of emoticons and the disadvantages if people abuse them. Generally speaking, emoticons make contributions to the context in text-based communication so that the recipients can understand the senders. Specifically speaking, emoticons have many functions in some professional fields like linguistic field, marketing management field, education, etc.. Meanwhile, if emoticons are abused, there will be a series of problems in interaction, society and spirit.


Keywords


Emoticons; Emoji; Functions; Disadvantages

Full Text:

PDF

References


The 43rd Statistical Report on the Development of Internet Network in China. (August 28, 2019). Retrieved from China Internet Network Information Center website: http://www.cnnic.net.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/hlwtjbg/201902/t20190228_70645.htm

An, J. B., & Zhang, Y. (2018). The present situation of college students’ use of emoticon and its enlightenment to college ideological and political education. Modern Education Science, 05, 48-53.

Chapman, A. J., & Wright, D. S. (1976). Social enhancement of laughter: An experimental analysis of some companion variables. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 21(2), 201-218.

Derks, D., Bos, A. E., & Von Grumbkow, J. (2008). Emoticons in computer-mediated communication: Social motives and social context. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11(1), 99-101.

Derks, D., Fischer, A. H., & Bos, A. E. (2008). The role of emotion in computer-mediated communication: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(3), 766-785.

Dimson, T. (2015). Emojineering part 1: Machine learning for emoji trends. Instagram Engineering Blog, 30.

Dresner, E., & Herring, S. C. (2010). Functions of the nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and illocutionary force. Communication Theory, 20(3), 249-268.

Friedman, H. S., & Miller-Herringer, T. (1991). Nonverbal display of emotion in public and in private: Self-monitoring, personality, and expressive cues. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(5), 766.

Gacey, H. J., & Richard, E. M. (2013). Influence of emoticons on perceived negative affect and professionalism in work-related email. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Proceedings.

Ganster, T., Eimler, S. C., & Krämer, N. C. (2012). Same same but different!? The differential influence of smilies and emoticons on person perception. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 15(4), 226-230.

Golato, A., & Taleghani-Nikazm, C. (2006). Negotiation of face in web chats. In: Walter de Gruyter.

Graber, D. A. (1988). Processing the news: How people tame the information tide.

Hancock, J. T. (2004). Verbal irony use in face-to-face and computer-mediated conversations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23(4), 447-463.

Harris, R. B., & Paradice, D. (2007). An investigation of the computer-mediated communication of emotions. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3(12), 2081-2090.

Huang, Y. (2017). Thoughts on the spreading strategy of Chinese traditional tea culture based on emoticons. Journal of News Research, 14, 14-15.

Jenson, S. (2005). Default thinking: Why consumer products fail. In The Inside Text (pp.305-325): Springer.

Jiang, J. G., & Li, Y. (2017). Graffiti emoticons: The ugly appreciation carnival or entertainment marijuana, (1), 131-136.

Jibril, T. A., & Abdullah, M. H. (2013). Relevance of emoticons in computer-mediated communication contexts: An overview. Asian Social Science, 9(4), 201.

Kaye, L. K., Wall, H. J., & Malone, S. A. (2016). “Turn that frown upside-down”: A contextual account of emoticon usage on different virtual platforms. Computers in Human Behavior, 60, 463-467.

Kraut, R. E., & Johnston, R. E. (1979). Social and emotional messages of smiling: an ethological approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(9), 1539.

Krohn, F. B. (2004). A generational approach to using emoticons as nonverbal communication. Journal of Technical Writing Communication, 34(4), 321-328.

Kruger, J., Epley, N., Parker, J., & Ng, Z.-W. (2005). Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 925.

Liang, Y. (2017). If One Thing Can Be Resolved With Biaoqing Bao, Then Don’t Use Words!”: The Genealogy of Biaoqing Bao in the Chinese Internet Culture. University of Pittsburgh,

Luangrath, A. W., Peck, J., & Barger, V. A. (2017). Textual paralanguage and its implications for marketing communications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 27(1), 98-107.

Marengo, D., Giannotta, F., & Settanni, M. (2017). Assessing personality using emoji: An exploratory study. Personality Individual Differences, 112, 74-78.

Pierozak, I. (2003). Le français tchaté: une étude en trois dimensions-sociolinguistique, syntaxique et graphique-d’usages IRC. Aix-Marseille 1,

Postman, N. (2006). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business: Penguin.

Prada, M., Rodrigues, D. L., Garrido, M. V., Lopes, D., Cavalheiro, B., & Gaspar, R. (2018). Motives, frequency and attitudes toward emoji and emoticon use. Telematics and Informatics, 35(7), 1925-1934.

Qiao, Q. (2010). The adoption and use of SMS among Chinese teenagers.

Rezabek, L., & Cochenour, J. (1998). Visual cues in computer-mediated communication: Supplementing text with emoticons. Journal of Visual Literacy, 18(2), 201-215.

Riordan, M. A. (2017). The communicative role of non-face emojis: Affect and disambiguation. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 75-86.

Riva, G. (2002). The sociocognitive psychology of computer-mediated communication: The present and future of technology-based interactions. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 5(6), 581-598.

Rivera, K., Cooke, N., & Bauhs, J. A. (1996). Effects of emotional icons on remote communication. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 1996 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 96.

Shen, H. T. (2017). Research on the recipients of emoticons from the “use and gratifications” perspective. New Media Research, (16), 13-14.

Skovholt, K., Grønning, A., & Kankaanranta, A. (2014). The communicative functions of emoticons in workplace e-mails. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(4), 780-797.

Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing social context cues: Electronic mail in organizational communication. Management Science, 32(11), 1492-1512.

Stav, Z. (November 16, 2015). Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year Is Not a Word. Retrieved August 7, 2019. Available from: https://www.newsweek.com/oxford-dictionaries-word-year-not-word-395015

U9.com. (August 7, 2018). Big Data of QQ Annual Expression. Retrieved August 28, 2019. Available from: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1608130044116458056&wfr=spider&for=pc

Utz, S. (2000). Social information processing in MUDs: The development of friendships in virtual worlds. Journal of Online Behavior.

Walther, J. B. (1992). Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: A relational perspective. Communication Research, 19(1), 52-90.

Walther, J. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23(1), 3-43.

Walther, J. B., & D’Addario, K. P. (2001). The impacts of emoticons on message interpretation in computer-mediated communication. Social Science Computer Review, 19(3), 324-347.

Wang, Q. (2019). Relics emoticons –they make history close [Electronic Version]. Jiangxi Daily.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11326

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Canadian Social Science

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

Submission Guidelines for Canadian Social Science

We are currently accepting submissions via email only. The registration and online submission functions have been disabled.

Please send your manuscripts to css@cscanada.net,or css@cscanada.org for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture