Emotions In Virtual Communication on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Emotions in virtual communication differ in a variety of ways from those in face-to-face interactions due to the characteristics of
While text-based communication eliminates audio and visual cues, there are other methods for adding
"Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email"
Academy of Management Review 33(2): 309. Byron (2008) notes that emails from senders higher in status will be more likely be perceived as negative than emails received from people who are lower in status. Given the permanent and potentially public nature of virtual communication, it is much more likely that unintended parties will view and interpret messages as opposed face-to-face communication, which is fleeting. It has been found that when third parties view virtual communications, the third parties may interpret interactions as contentious disputes, when in fact there may not have actually been any conflict.
computer-mediated communication
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated forma ...
(CMC). CMC may lack many of the auditory and visual cues normally associated with the emotional aspects of interactions. Research in this area has investigated how and when individuals display and interpret various emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...
s in virtual settings.
Expression
While text-based communication eliminates audio and visual cues, there are other methods for adding emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...
. Emoticon
An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a person's feelings, ...
s, or emotional icons, can be used to display various types of emotions. Similar to emotional displays in face-to-face communication, it was found that females tend to use more emoticons than their male counterparts. Beyond simply using emoticons, in virtual communication platforms, people tend to capitalize letters or words to add emphasis to speaking.
There are a variety of characteristics of virtual communication that result in an increase in the amount of emotion displayed. The lack of social cues in CMC has been found to have a depersonalizing effect. Additionally, there can be greater anonymity or perceptions of anonymity in virtual communication. This combination of anonymous and social detached communication has been shown to increase the likelihood of flaming, or angry and hostile language as a result of uninhibited behavior.
Furthermore, it has been shown that virtual communication can reduce normative social pressures. As a result of decreased social pressures, individuals may feel more comfortable disclosing either positive or negative affect, which may not be considered appropriate in normal face-to-face interactions. For example, in a large part due to decreased social hierarchies, Gilmore and Warren (2007) found many instances of feelings of intimacy, playfulness, and pride in a virtual teaching environment.
Interpretation
The lack of social and emotional cues over virtual communication platforms can result in increased instances of misinterpreting emotion and intentions. Kruger, Epley, Parker, and Ng (2005) found that individuals overestimate both their ability to clearly relay and interpret emotions via email. They attribute this inability to relay emotions effectively to others over CMC to a combination ofegocentrism
Egocentrism is the inability to differentiate between self and other. More specifically, it is the inability to accurately assume or understand any perspective other than one's own.
Egocentrism is found across the life span: in infancy, early chi ...
and a lack of paralinguistic cues including gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ...
s, emphasis, and intonations.
One of the reasons that emails that are intended to be positive may come across as more neutral is that the process of email itself tends to be less stimulating than face-to-face communication. Since many people tend to associate emails with work-related matters, they come to expect less positive affect to be displayed in emails. Furthermore, the emotional ambiguity of email messages may actually lead to them to be interpreted as more negatively than they were intended.Byron, K. (2008)"Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email"
Academy of Management Review 33(2): 309. Byron (2008) notes that emails from senders higher in status will be more likely be perceived as negative than emails received from people who are lower in status. Given the permanent and potentially public nature of virtual communication, it is much more likely that unintended parties will view and interpret messages as opposed face-to-face communication, which is fleeting. It has been found that when third parties view virtual communications, the third parties may interpret interactions as contentious disputes, when in fact there may not have actually been any conflict.
Management
Due to the excess disclosure of and the potential to misinterpret emotions, conflicts can arise in virtual communication. Communication mediums that have the greatest amount of emotional cues and immediacy of feedback will be best to reduce conflict.Maruping, L. M. and Agarwal, R. (2004). "Managing team interpersonal processes through technology: a task-technology fit perspective." Journal of Applied Psychology 89(6): 975. Increased emotional cues allow for better detection of negative affect, and greater displays of positive affect to counter any negative emotions. Immediacy of feedback relates to how quickly messages are transmitted via a particular communication medium, and the expectation for which they will be responded.Dennis, A. R. and Valacich, J. S. (1999). Rethinking media richness: Towards a theory of media synchronicity. System Sciences, 1999. HICSS-32. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on, IEEE. For example, instant messaging has a higher degree of immediacy of feedback than email because instant messaging tends to result in much more synchronous communication than email. Immediacy of feedback allows individuals to detect and address frustration and other negative emotions more quickly. Furthermore, communication mediums that are more synchronous better allow for spontaneous comments, such as jokes, which are necessary for positive affect. Increased positive affect helps to create positive interactions which reduce the likelihood of conflict.See also
*Affective computing
Affective computing is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning computer science, psychology, and cognitive science. While so ...
*Computer-mediated communication
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated forma ...
* Media richness theory
*Social presence theory
Social presence theory explores how the "sense of being with another" is influenced by digital interfaces in human-computer interactions. Developed from the foundations of interpersonal communication and symbolic interactionism, social presence ...
*Theories of technology
Theories of technological change and innovation attempt to explain the factors that shape technological innovation as well as the impact of technology on society and culture. Some of the most contemporary theories of technological change rejec ...
References
{{Emotion-footer Emotion Human–machine interaction