The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exchanging emoticons through mobile text messages on interpersonal emotions. We examined whether reciprocal use of emoticons influence interpersonal emotions, by using the scenario method. The scenarios used were either usual mail exchanges, such as waiting for a friend (Study 1), apologizing, and being accepted by a friend (Study 2), or being rejected by a friend (Study 3). Results of Studies 1 and 2 indicated that positive emotions decreased and negative emotions increased when an emoticon was not used in response to a sent message with an emoticon, which could be caused by the violation of the reciprocity norm. In Study 3, the reciprocity norm had no effect and while positive emotions increased, negative emotions decreased as a result of emoticons in messages that were received. These results suggest that reciprocal use of emoticons is important in cooperative mail exchanges, such as usual communications, and when being accepted, but not important in non-cooperative situations, such as being rejected.
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