We thought that using a lot of emojis was immature. Psychology has just shown that the opposite is true.

For many people, using a lot of emojis in emails, text messages or work chats is a sign of immaturity or unprofessionalism that should not be overlooked. However, the most modern psychology has analyzed the reason for using so many emojis and the reality is that It is not a childish actbut a desperate attempt to recover the emotional nuances that plain text has taken from us.

The context. Conveying sarcasm in plain text is undoubtedly a great challenge, and not doing it correctly can result in a message that transmits an edge tone that can ‘scare’ the person to whom we send it. That is why using emojis or any type of expression strategy over text is what saves us from transmitting something that is not what we want.

Non-verbal communication. When we speak face to face, words are only a fraction of the message, as tone of voice, posture, a raised eyebrow or a smile convey the true intention behind what we say. In the digital ecosystem, that layer of communication disappears, leaving our WhatsApp or Slack messages at the mercy of the interpretation (and often, pessimism) of the recipient.

And this is where emojis come in, since, far from being simple decorations, psychology defines them as substitutes for non-verbal communication. Without going any further, an article published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2021 demonstrated that emojis function as real affective symbols that help convey pure emotional content.

It can be measured. An investigation of Journal of Nonverbal Behavior found that adding positive emojis to a completely neutral message makes the recipient perceive it as positive. Likewise, negative emojis can instantly darken the tone of a text that has no point of malice behind it.

In privacy, as the magazine points out Symbolic Interactionthe use of emojis in romantic conversations dramatically increases clarity of intentions, reducing the feared ambiguity of the first digital flirtations that in person can be much clearer thanks to the tone or looks we use.

There is not a single emoji. With all this evidence, the logical conclusion would seem to be: “Use as many emojis as you can so they can understand you better.” But science warns that there is a catch, since the meaning of emojis is not stable.

Here we must keep in mind that, unlike words, which have agreed definitions in dictionaries, emojis are tremendously dependent on the context, the platform and, above all, the generation of the reader. What for a boomer or a millennial It is a simple friendly smile, for Generation Z it can be interpreted as irony, passive-aggressiveness or even contempt.

He is the king. The effectiveness of the emoji depends entirely on where and with whom you use it. Research published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports support that, in informal communication, emojis reduce ambiguous interpretations and bring interlocutors closer. However, In the workplace everything changessince, although it brings closeness, it can also alter the perception of competence of the person sending the message. It has even been seen that in formal emails or with superiors, an excess of emojis can generate communicative “noise” and detract from the professionalism or appropriateness of the message.

Images | Tim Witzdam

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