The role of emoji in the communication of specific emotions

This study investigated the role of emoji in the implicit communication of specific emotions in digital contexts. Sender participants (N = 46) created text messages designed to communicate 22 specific emotions. Senders were not allowed to name the emotion being conveyed but were allowed to include emoji with their message. Receiver participants attempted to identify the emotions being conveyed, with either a free-response (N = 46) or multiple-choice (N = 46) format. Consistent with beliefs that emoji facilitate communicative success, senders preferred to include an emoji with their message and 75 % of all messages contained an emoji. Both senders and receivers were more confident that the conveyed emotion would be recognized when the message contained an emoji, and emotion recognition was significantly more likely when the message contained an emoji. Senders, but not receivers, overestimated communicative success. Overall, these results demonstrate that emoji can facilitate emotional communication in digital contexts, although they may also contribute to communicator overconfidence in communication success.