抄録
Recently, the development of electronic devices has enabled people to have frequent access to computer-mediated communication (CMC) devices. In this study, we investigated the effects of e-mail messages containing various types of emoticons such as face marks, static emoticons, and moving emoticons-on receivers' impression formation in situations of gratitude and apology. Each e-mail message was framed both politely and normally, with and without emoticons. Then, participants rated their impressions of the messages on a CMC questionnaire. The results revealed that the messages containing emoticons enhanced impressions of extroversion and friendliness, while those without emoticons diminished impressions of faithfulness and truthfulness, suggesting that emoticons played an important and delicate role in CMC. Moreover, the normal version of the messages enhanced impressions of extroversion and friendliness, and the polite version of the message enhanced impressions of faithfulness and truthfulness. Other interesting results were also observed.
