Thinking of adding an emoji as you text? Think again, say researchers in Britain, as context matters
- ‘Universal’ facial emotions may not remain so when turned into emojis, University of Nottingham team says after survey of Chinese and British adults
- Age, cultural background and gender can influence the way people interpret the pictograms, the researchers say in article for PLOS ONE journal
“Some ‘universal’ facial emotions may not be ‘universal’ when they transfer to emoji,” according to researchers at the University of Nottingham who carried out a survey of more than 500 British and Chinese adults.
The person on the other side might interpret an emoji differently depending on their age, cultural background and gender, their study suggests.
For instance, Chinese texters might use a smile emoji to suggest negative connotations like sarcasm, and thus be less likely to identify it as “happy” than those in Britain, the researchers said.
“Our findings in relation to age and culture highlight the importance of context in emoji use,” the team wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday.
“For example, the possibility that participants in China may commonly use the ‘smile’ emoji for different purposes than to signify happiness, which means some ‘universal’ facial emotions may not be ‘universal’ when they transfer to emoji.”