New Research: Send A Smiley - Get A Date

Many people think that emoji is a useless thing that is of no use. There are quite serious persons in psychology who regard innocent emoticons as manifestations of hysterical, demonstrative character. However, research shows that emoji can be very beneficial for a person's personal and sexual life. This is confirmed by the results of a new poll published by scientists Gezzelman and Garcia.

The content of the article

• 1 Why we use emoji
• 2 How the study was conducted
• 3 Another scientific research
• 4 A few clarifications
• 5 General conclusions

Why do we use emoji i

The reasons people use emoticons are varied. Some do this to give their love messages more personality. Others are for expressing emotions and feelings. Still others believe that emoticons simply make communication faster. There are also people who believe that it is fashionable - that is, since everyone uses emoticons, then they should not be neglected either.

Psychologists believe that emojis help express feelings much better than words alone. For example, a girl can write a message to a guy: “You have not called me for three days. Okay, I don't care where you are or with whom. " This message can be interpreted in different ways by the recipient. If there is no emoticon, the boy will be glad that now he does not need to explain the reasons for the lack of interest. Most likely, he will wrap this offense for his own good and quickly start an affair with another passion. But if a girl adds the icon of a smiling devil to the end of the message, then its meaning is radically transformed.

Another important factor is the mitigation of negative emotions. It is known that negative feelings towards another person at the initial stages of acquaintance can ruin the whole first impression. For example, if a girl expressed aggression against a man on the first date, chances are good that it will be the last one. As for emoji, they allow you to express feelings in a softer way: the person is kind of angry, but "for fun." After all, one way or another, an offended or angry face cannot be taken in all seriousness, and even more so to cause an aggressive response.

How the study was conducted 2

So Gezzelman and Garcia of Kinsey University have shown that frequent use of emojis is associated not only with more frequent sexual encounters, but also with greater success in dating. In the first study, scientists analyzed data obtained from a survey of 5327 single US residents. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 94 years old. Most of them were heterosexual (87%).

Participants were asked to tell if they were using emoticons, and if so, why. They were also asked several questions about their sexual and personal life.

The results were as follows:

• 38% said they never do it;
• 29% - almost never;
• 28% - regularly add emoticons to messages;
• 3% - use at least one emoticon in every message;
• 2.5% - send messages with more than one emoji.

According to the study, more frequent use of emoticons was associated with more dates per year; as well as with more frequent sexual contact.

Another scientific research3

In the second study, 275 adults were interviewed. Their ages ranged from 21 to 71 years. 84% of the subjects were heterosexual.

The use of emoji was more common in this sample of subjects: only 3% of those surveyed admitted that they never used emoji with their new acquaintances. Also, unlike in the first study, the use of emojis was not associated with a lot of dating. However, it correlated with more frequent sexual contacts.

In addition, when it comes to sex, it was easier for emoji fans to establish constant physical intimacy with new partners. They were more likely to start a relationship after the first date.

Several clarifications 4

It should be noted that this study has several limitations. In particular, its authors did not pay attention to the fact which type of emoji people were using. Whether they were hearts, smiling or kissing emoticons, perky little devils - this was not indicated in the survey. And also scientists took into account only sending emoticons, and not receiving them in response. A possible interest for further research is the perception of emoticons by the other side.

General conclusions 5

What are the findings of the discoveries? Scientists believe that those people who use emoticons in their correspondence are more emotional and open to communication than others. They are also able to more easily express their feelings and convey them in an adequate and understandable way. In other words, the use of emoticons indicates that a person is capable of self-disclosure, and is also willing to take time to create emotional closeness. All this creates a good base for new acquaintances and sex life.