ASCII affect: A comparison of emoticons and facial expressions in affective priming
The effects of emoticons in textual computer-mediated communication (CMC) remain relatively unexplored. CMC researchers have suggested that emoticons behave much as do facial expressions in face-to-face interaction (e.g. Danet, Ruedenberg-Wright, & Rosenbaum-Tamari, 1997; Rezabek & Cochenour, 1998; Thompson & Foulger, 1996). Some fMRI research suggests, however, that there is not a direct neural correspondence between emoticons and facial expressions, but that emoticons play an important role in determining the positive or negative valence of an utterance (Yuasa, Saito, & Mukawa, 2011). Following the affective priming paradigm developed by Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, and Kardes (1986), this study explores the priming effects of emoticons vis-à-vis photographs of facial expression and emotional words on valence judgements of emotionally charged words. Significant main effects of age, prime valence, and target valence were found. There were also significant interactions between these three factors. Overall results suggest that younger and older participants have differing experiences of emoticons, with younger participants experiencing an effect of emoticons that is similar to the effect of facial expressions while older adults seem to experience emoticons in ways more like textual information or even just textual nonsense.