Many people think that emojis are useless and only clutter up our online communication. But research by psychologists shows that this is not true. Emoticons and other symbols help people establish contact, especially in romantic communication.
More and more people are using online services and apps to develop relationships. A survey of Americans who use Match.com to find a romantic partner found that using emojis more often was associated with a higher chance of getting a date and having sex later on.
The use of emoticons generally leads to more successful communication. Emojis are becoming a universal form of communication. Symbols are usually understood by everyone, regardless of origin, nationality and education.
Emojis in Romantic Communication
According to statistics from online dating service Badoo, men most often send emojis with a red rose, and women – a smiling emoticon. And if you think that a good conversation starts with a good old “Hi! How are you?” and this is the key to success, then you are wrong.
Most often, girls in Badoo respond to dialogues that begin with emoji or stickers. 80% of dialogues that begin with a sticker last longer than 3-4 lines, and 70% of dialogues that users begin with emoji receive a positive reaction. Also, emoji in the “About me” column increase the chance of a swipe to the right (this shows that the user liked the profile) on average three times.
According to a survey of service users, girls sending the classic smiling emoji wanted to demonstrate femininity, emotional connection and lack of desire to dominate. Perhaps this is why the smiling emoji is not popular among men. Men, according to the survey, more often send one red rose – as a symbol of good disposition and courtship of a woman, also expressing a desire to meet faster in real life.
According to Badoo statistics, women around the world use emojis in correspondence twice as often as men. At the same time, men use emoji sarcasm in dialogues several times more often than women.
Top 5 emojis for men and women: lips, smiling emoji, burning heart, rose, and purple heart. In Russia, the most popular emojis among users differ from the rest of the world. For example, a cup of coffee and a bouquet of flowers are used more often here than in other countries.
There are also interesting statistics on Badoo emojis in the 70-80 age group (yes, literally everyone uses dating services ). Among this audience, the most popular emoji among both sexes was the lips emoji. Most likely, this trend reflects the increased mood for flirting in this age group.
Psychology of communication on the Internet
Lifehacker found out the opinion of psychologists regarding the specifics of online communication and the use of emojis in it.
The role of emoji in communication is quite important: they replace many non-verbal signals that are absent when communicating via the Internet or SMS. This includes facial expressions, gestures, and intonation – everything that helps to correctly decipher the received text. A slight change in tone – and a joyful “Well, finally you showed up!” turns into an irritated or sarcastic one. Emoji serve to distinguish these nuances, helping us to avoid misunderstandings – because this is often the cause of conflicts.
How are emojis useful for intergender relationships? It is no secret that men often tend to perceive text literally, missing the ironic connotation. Let’s say a girl writes to her partner: “Are you going to drink beer with friends on March 8? Okay, do whatever you want.” He will most likely be happy with such support and will actually leave. But if you add an angry smiley at the end of the message, everything will become clear.
Research has also shown that actively using emojis increases your chances of success in finding a partner.
The thing is that a text message without emoticons can be perceived as dry and detached, while emojis add liveliness and emotional coloring to it. Such “light”, “playful” communication helps to create a romantic mood for both interlocutors.
In addition to distinguishing emotions, emoticons also serve to soften them. Real aggression can frighten or upset your interlocutor, and if it is expressed with the help of an emoji picture, it will mean “I am angry, but not quite seriously.” At the same time, emoji cannot be considered a full-fledged replacement for live communication, especially since different people can interpret them differently.
Of course, any feelings and emotions can be expressed in words, the language is rich enough for this. But in modern society, people simply do not have time for this, so we increasingly use emoji as convenient symbols of emotions. This is neither good nor bad – it has become an integral part of our communication, which we just need to accept and, if possible, use for good.
It has been noted that people who communicate via text messages understand their partner worse in 40% of cases than in real-life communication. When we use emoji, we try to express emotions, which in many ways allow us to better understand our opponent.
However, if a person uses faces or suns in a conversation, this is perceived warmer than lollipops, firecrackers and other rare smileys. Yes, perhaps in some cases thematic smileys are necessary, but otherwise their abundance only speaks of the individual preferences of the interlocutor or that the person is trying to embellish emotions.
It is also worth considering that not all emoticons can be used when chatting with a person you do not know personally. A smiley in the form of a wink or a kiss can be perceived as careless communication, especially if the person you are chatting with is older than you. I am not against emoji, but I recommend not to use them thoughtlessly.
Emoji enrich communication, indicate the emotional state that the speaker conveys along with his message. Such communication is necessary so that the interlocutor sees not only what is written, but also the attitude of the sender. It is important for us to share our anger, discontent, resentment or joy with someone. The modern pace of life forces us to reduce interpersonal communication, replacing it with messages where emoticons serve as a surrogate for emotions.
Emoji duplicate, expand, and supplement the meaning. They perform the function of establishing contact between interlocutors and allow you to convey the state when you are too lazy to type a lot of letters.
That is, the text is replaced by a visual image that is easier to perceive; this is a new universal and flexible language of communication.
The number of characters after a message is most often determined by an unspoken rule. The rhythmic completeness of the message also plays a role. Pressing three times is more convenient, more familiar and is accompanied by a feeling of aesthetic satisfaction, which is why many people like to put exactly three emoji.