Sarcasm in Computer-mediated Messages:Do Emoticons :) Help or Hurt Emotional and Behavioral Reactions to Non-literal

Messages?

Ann Rumble, Ph.D.Johnnie M. Martin

Ohio University-Chillicothe13th International Conference of Social Dilemmas

August 24th, 2009

Strict Reciprocity Reciprocity

Doing what the other person did the last time Tit-for-Tat

Nice Forgiving Retaliatory Clear

BUT… TFT/strict reciprocity is a reactive strategy

A stumbling block of reciprocity Reciprocity in noisy environments

What if unintentional noncooperation exists in an environment?

Robert Axelrod Error/Noise is one of the most important factors in

understanding how to resolve conflict at both mirco and macro levels

Simulations of uncertainty and noise Strong evidence that both will increase noncooperation in social

dilemmas (Bendor, 1993; Bendor, Kramer, & Stout, 1991; Kollock, 1993; Wu & Axelrod, 1996;Wu & Axelrod, 1997)

Behavioral data Van Lange and colleagues have confirmed simulations results

in behavioral experiments (Van Lange et al, 2002; Van Lange et al, 2003)

Rumble, Van Lange, & Parks, 2009 Noise: F(1,114)=12.21, p=.001

55.5

66.5

77.5

8

Block1

Block2

Block3

Block4

Block5

Block6

Block7

Cooperative Behavior

No Noise Noise

What are real-world sources of noise that may interfere

with cooperation?

Communication channels in Cyberspace

“ The Internet is filled with junk and jerks… the signal-to noise ratio, it is said, is bad

and getting worse.”

Peter Kollock, in his chapter in Communites in Cyberspace, 1999

Growing and continued dependence on text or email messaging As of August 2008, there were 1.3 billion e-mail users

worldwide (Radicati Group).

86% of the U.S. owns a cell phone and an estimated 75 billion text messages are sent each month

Used to communicate in multiple settings, such as, social networks, workplace, and academic settings

Sarcasm Sarcasm-the non-literal use of language that can

be verbally aggressive and directed at a specific target

Deciphering the meaning is facilitated through the use of non-verbal behaviors, and social-cultural stereotypes such as occupation, status, and gender of the sender (Katz, 2004)

Understanding sarcasm requires both the ability to understand the speaker’s belief about the listener’s belief and the ability to identify emotions (Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Tomer, R.,& Aharon-Peretz, J.,2008 )

What happens if sarcasm is misunderstood?

Emoticons Emotion can be shown in electronic messaging

through the use of emoticons. An emoticon is the merging of the words emotion

and icon. Examples:

:) Smile

;-) Wink

:-( Sad

:-0 Surprise

:-@ Angry

Study 1: Do emoticons help or hurt emotional reactions to sarcastic email messages? Hypothesis: Sarcasm can be misperceived in email

communication which can lead to increases in negative feelings and decreased positive feelings, but emoticons may reduce these feelings

Participants 80 OUC undergraduates

Independent variable: Message type and Emoticons Dependent variables: Negative feelings and Positive

feelings.

Sarcastic messageFrom SENDER

To RECEIVER Subject RE: Last night?!

Sent Mon, 26 Aug 2005 1:45:19 Hey… Wow, it was a little embarrassing! Yeah you were acting extremely stupid… J Maybe you will be able to show your face to everyone in a couple of months… J Well, whatever… see you soon! L8er! -----Original Message----- From: Receiver Sent: Monday, August 26, 2005 11:00 AM To: Sender Subject: Last night?! What did you think of the party on Saturday? Sorry if I was acting stupid…I have a lot of crazy stuff going on right now and I haven’t been myself. Well, hopefully we hang out later this week… TTYL!

No Humor messageFrom SENDER

To RECEIVER Subject RE: Last night?!

Sent Mon, 26 AUG 2005 1:45:19 Hey…How about getting together on Thursday for a bite to eat? Maybe we could go to that new restaurant on High St. that everyone is raving about… What do you think? Well , just let me know… see you soon! L8er! -----Original Message----- From: Receiver Sent: Monday, August 26, 2005 11:00 AM To: Sender Subject: Last night?! What did you think of the party on Saturday? Sorry if I was

acting stupid…I have a lot of crazy stuff going on right now and I haven’t been myself. Well, hopefully we hang out later this week… TTYL!

Main effect of message type Negative Feelings

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

No HumorSarcasm

Positive Feelings

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

Impact of Emoticons in Sarcastic messages

Negative Feelings

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

EmoticonsNo Emoticons

Positive Feelings

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Knows How to Use Sarcasm

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

EmoticonsNo Emoticons

Ability to Crack People Up

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

Summary of Study 1 Sarcasm increases negative feelings and

reduces positive feelings in email messages compared to neutral messages

But, if emoticons are used the sarcastic message may be easier to decipher as humor, thus positive feelings increase and negative feelings decrease

Study 2: Do emoticons help or hurt behavioral reactions to sarcastic text messages?

Introduction of alternative communication channels during social dilemma task

Sarcasm may increase noncooperative behavior in a social dilemma, but the presence of emoticons may reduce this noncooperation

Participants 58 OUC undergraduates

Independent variables: Message type and Emoticons Dependent variable: Cooperative behavior and emotional

reaction

Give Some Game Participants were told they would interact with

an unknown other on a task All participants actually interacted during the social

dilemma task with the pre-programmed strategy of tit-for-tat

Participants were told they would receive messages from the other person during the course of the task, but were not able to send them.

For each trial, the participant had 10 coins to either keep or give away; the participant’s coins are worth $0.50 to the participant, and $1.00 to the unknown other; the same was true for the unknown other.

As an incentive, participants were told that the amount of points they accumulated would determine their chances of receiving prizes.

Sarcastic Messages Not the brightest crayon in the box now, are

we? I refuse to star in your psychodrama Aw, did I step on your poor little bitty ego? Is it time for your medication or mine?

Results: Emotional ReactionHow much do you trust the other

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5No message/ NoemoticonsNo message/EmoticonsSarcasm/NoemoticonsSarcasm/Emoticons

I dislike the other person

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

4

Knows How to Use Sarcasm

0

1

2

3

4

5

Other person made me feel pleased with my choices

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

4

Results: Cooperative Behavior

2

2.5

3

3.5

44.5

5

5.5

6

6.5

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3

No message/NoEmoticonNo message/Emoticon

Sarcasm/ No Emoticon

Sarcasm/Emoticon

Summary of Study 2 Noise from alternative channels may impact

cooperative behavior Emoticons do lessen the impact of

sarcastic messages on emotions and cooperative behavior

Conclusion and future directions Explore additional ways that noise may

enter into a social dilemma Methods for correcting the effect of noise Cyberspace interactions need to be better

understood to reduce the “signal to noise ratio”

Thank you to my junior co-author, texting guru, and long distance data analyzer!

…who also happens to be my 17 year old daughter!

Sarcasm in Computer-mediated Messages:

Do Emoticons :) Help or Hurt Emotional and Behavioral

Reactions to Non-literal Messages?

Ann Rumble, Ph.D.Johnnie M. Martin

Ohio University-Chillicothe13th International Conference of Social Dilemmas

August 24th, 2009