The Dark Side of a

Smiley: Eff ects of Smiling

Emoticons on Virtual
First Impressions

Social Psychological and Personality Science

(2018)
Is a smiley a suitable
replacement for a
smile? 

Emotional expressionsv pivotal

role in conveying social
information

smiles both warmth and

competence

Do smileys can help set a positive

tone or negative (childish) in work
related concepts?
Method and
Results
***three experiments to examine the impact of smiley use on
v i r t u a l fi r s t i m p r e s s i o n s i n w o r k- r e l a t e d c o n t e x t s .

E x p 1 : c o n t ra r y t o a c t u a l s m i l e s , s m i l e y s d o n o t i n c r e a s e
p e r c e p t i o n s o f wa r m t h a n d a c t u a l l y d e c r e a s e p e r c e p t i o n s o f
competence.

E x p 2 : Pe r c e p t i o n s o f l o w c o m p e t e n c e  r e d u c e s i n f o r m a t i o n
sharing.

Exp3: Smileys reduced assessments of competence and had no

i m p a c t o n p e r c e i v e d wa r m t h i n a f o r m a l s e t t i n g .

H o w e v e r, s m i l e y s h a d p o s i t i v e e ff e c t s o n p e r c e p t i o n s o f wa r m t h
a n d n o e ff e c t o n p e r c e i v e d c o m p e t e n c e i n a n i n f o r m a l s e t t i n g .
Discussion
Smileys reduced assessments of competence and had no
impact on perceived warmth in a formal setting.

H o w e v e r, s m i l e y s h a d p o s i t i v e e ff e c t s o n p e r c e p t i o n s o f
w a r m t h a n d n o e ff e c t o n p e r c e i v e d c o m p e t e n c e i n a n i n f o r m a l
setting.

T h e r e s u l t s t h u s s u g g e s t t h a t t h e e ff e c t s o f s m i l e y u s e
on s oc i a l pe rc e pti o n s oc c u r r e g a r dl e ss o f th e e x pr e ss e r ’s
p e r c e i v e d g e n d e r.
What would I do next?

I would love to see the eff ects of not just smiley but many other
emojis use in formal and in more informal settings, also within
our close relationships vs distanced relationships, happy vs sad
circumstances.

My more frequently used ones: 🤣🥰😩😘😍😒.

My personal curiosity also would be about the most frequent

ones? E.g. Any eff ect on emotion regulation.