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Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: evidence from EDA and facial EMG

Thompson, Dominic; Mackenzie, Ian G.; Leuthold, Hartmut; Filik, Ruth

Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: evidence from EDA and facial EMG Thumbnail


Authors

Ian G. Mackenzie

Hartmut Leuthold

RUTH FILIK ruth.filik@nottingham.ac.uk
Associate Professor



Abstract

While the basic nature of irony is saying one thing and communicating the opposite, it may also serve additional social and emotional functions, such as projecting humour or anger. Emoticons often accompany irony in computer-mediated communication, and have been suggested to increase enjoyment of communication. In the current study, we aimed to examine on-line emotional responses to ironic vs. literal comments, and the influence of emoticons on this process. Participants read stories with a final comment that was either ironic or literal, praising or critical, and with or without an emoticon. We used psychophysiological measures to capture immediate emotional responses: electrodermal activity to directly measure arousal, and facial electromyography to detect muscle movements indicative of emotional expressions. Results showed higher arousal, reduced frowning, and enhanced smiling for messages with rather than without an emoticon, suggesting that emoticons increase positive emotions. A tendency towards less negative responses (i.e., reduced frowning and enhanced smiling) for ironic than literal criticism, and less positive responses (i.e., enhanced frowning and reduced smiling) for ironic than literal praise suggests that irony weakens the emotional impact of a message. The present findings indicate the utility of a psychophysiological approach in studying on-line emotional responses to written language.

Citation

Thompson, D., Mackenzie, I. G., Leuthold, H., & Filik, R. (2016). Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: evidence from EDA and facial EMG. Psychophysiology, 53(7), 1054-1062. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12642

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 4, 2016
Online Publication Date Mar 17, 2016
Publication Date Jun 14, 2016
Deposit Date Mar 18, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 18, 2016
Journal Psychophysiology
Print ISSN 0048-5772
Electronic ISSN 1469-8986
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 53
Issue 7
Pages 1054-1062
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12642
Keywords irony, emoticon, psychophysiology, language
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/795304
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.12642/full
Additional Information This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Thompson, D., Mackenzie, I. G., Leuthold, H. and Filik, R. (2016), Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: Evidence from EDA and facial EMG. Psychophysiology, 53: 1054–1062. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12642, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.12642/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Contract Date Mar 18, 2016

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