Are you what you emoji? How skin tone emojis and profile pictures shape attention and social inference processing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21558828 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sofia Pelica (0000-0002-0970-5360, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Tiago Rôxo Aguiar (0000-0002-8212-9662, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Sofia Frade (0000-0002-7545-0757, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Rita Guerra (0000-0003-3184-5164, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Marília Prada (0000-0002-6845-8881, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 95 |
| Pages | 102207 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Telematics and Informatics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0736-5853 • E-ISSN: 1879-324X |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.tele.2024.102207 |
| OpenAlex | W4404013038 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 57 |
For Black senders, Darker emojis reduced competence but improved warmth inferences. • For Black senders, Lighter emojis reduced warmth but improved competence inferences. • Without racialized profile cues, Yellow emojis were assumed to be from White senders. • Without racialized profile cues, Lighter emojis lowered competence inferences. • Attention bias only for White senders using Darker emojis. Emojis can express emotions and some aspects of the sender’s identity; however, only limited research has explored how the choice of skin tone in emojis influences the perceptions of the users. We examined the interaction between emoji skin tones and profile pictures in instant messaging, using self-reported and eye tracking measures. White participants viewed 14 screenshots of conversations (9 target and 5 fillers) where the sender used an emoji in a Darker or Lighter skin tone, or the default Yellow; alongside profile pictures displaying a Black or White individual, or a landscape as a neutral condition. Results showed that Black senders using Darker emojis were seen as warmer and closer to the receiver, but less competent, suggesting a dimensional compensation effect. Conversely, Black senders using Lighter emojis appeared more competent, but less warm. In the Neutral condition, Lighter emojis improved warmth and relationship quality, but reduced competence inferences, unlike Yellow and Darker emojis, suggesting a black sheep effect (in-group strictness). Yellow emojis were assumed to be sent by White individuals. Eye-tracking measures revealed an implicit bias towards White senders using Darker emojis, although such an impact was not observed for Black senders using Lighter emojis. Overall, findings indicate that skin tone emojis and profile pictures influence sender perception and challenge the neutrality of Yellow emojis
Emoji · Inference · Linguistics · Social media · Speech recognition · World Wide Web · Communication · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Multisensory perception and integration · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
First Impressions
The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture
To transform or not to transform
The Chicago face database
On the Adaptive Control of the False Discovery Rate in Multiple Testing With Independent Statistics
Motives, frequency and attitudes toward emoji and emoticon use
A Systematic Review of Emoji
The Validity and Practicality of Sun-Reactive Skin Types I Through VI
Universal dimensions of social cognition
G*Power 3
Evaluating the Adequacy of Emoji Use in Positive and Negative Messages from Close and Distant Senders
Are emojis processed like words
A Bot and a Smile
Investigating effects of emoji on neutral narrative text
Emojis influence emotional communication, social attributions, and information processing
Emoji as Icebreakers? Emoji can signal distinct intentions in first time online interactions
Give Me a Straight Answer
The Dark Side of a Smiley
On the Dominance of Moral Categories in Impression Formation
A single‐item measure of social identification
Close contact with racial outgroup members moderates attentional allocation towards outgroup versus ingroup faces
Skin-tone modified emoji and first-person indexicality
The Gender Stereotyping of Emotions
The “Black Sheep Effect”
Social categorization and intergroup behaviour
Attending to threat
Danger stereotypes predict racially biased attentional allocation
Perceived authenticity in romantic partners
Understanding Interaction Models
Self-anchoring and differentiation processes in the minimal group setting
A multidimensional approach to the structure of personality impressions
Fundamental dimensions of social judgment
A model of (often mixed) stereotype content
Reducing explicit and implicit outgroup prejudice via direct and extended contact
The Psychology of Prejudice
Eye movements in reading and information processing
Funny but not Credible? Why Using (Many) Emojis Decreases Message Credibility and Source Trustworthiness
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |