男性應該使用感性的表情符號嗎?大綱

Should Men Use Affectionate Emojis?

男性應該使用感性的表情符號嗎？

Men, you may want to think twice the next time you send a kissing face or heart-eyes emoji in a text message.

男人們，下次你在短信中發送吻臉或心心眼表情時，可能要三思了。

According to new research published in Frontiers in Psychology, the interpretation of emojis can vary drastically depending on the gender of the sender.

根據發表在《心理學前沿》雜誌上的一項新研究表明，表情符號的解釋可能因爲發送者的性別差異會有很大的不同。

To examine gender differences in emoji interpretation, psychologists at Southwestern University recruited 80 undergraduate students to take part in a short experiment. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups.

爲了研究表情符號解讀中的性別差異，美國西南大學的心理學家招募了80名大學生參加一個簡短的實驗。 在這項研究中，參與者被隨機分配到四個實驗組。

They were asked to read and evaluate the contents of a text message. The text message, ostensibly sent from one coworker to another, read: "Hey Katie I'm sorry I couldn't come in yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better today though. Thanks for covering my shift."

他們被要求閱讀和評估短信的內容。 這條短信表面上是一個同事發給另一個同事的，上面寫着:"嘿，凱蒂，很抱歉我昨天沒能來上班。 不過我今天感覺好多了。 謝謝你幫我頂班。"

While the words in the text message did not differ between groups, the researchers systematically varied the perceived gender of the text message sender (Rebecca versus Steven) as well as the emojis displayed at the end of the message (smiling face versus kissing face and heart emoji).

雖然各組的短信中的單詞沒有差別，但研究人員系統地改變了文本發送者（瑞貝卡&史蒂芬）的感知性別以及消息末尾顯示的表情符號（微笑臉&親親&愛心）

In other words, participants either read the text message sent from Rebecca and ending in a smiling face, sent from Steven and ending in a smiling face, sent from Rebecca and ending in a kissing face and heart emoji, or sent from Steven and ending in a kissing face and heart emoji.

換句話說，參與者要麼看的是瑞貝卡發來的以微笑臉結尾的短信，或是史蒂芬發來的以微笑臉結尾的短信，又或是瑞貝卡發來的以親親和愛心符號結尾的短信，和史蒂芬發來的以親親和愛心符號結尾的短信。

Then, researchers asked participants to evaluate the appropriateness of the text message by indicating their level of agreement with the following statements:

緊接着，研究人員通過要求參與者們表明對以下幾種說法的贊同程度來評估短信的適當性

“I would send a message like this to a coworker”

"我會給同事發這樣的短信"

“I find this text message acceptable”

"我覺得這條短信可以接受"

“[Rebecca/Steven] acted professionally in this case”

"瑞貝卡 / 史蒂文在這件事上表現得很專業"

“The text shows a proper tone between employees”

文字顯示了僱員之間適當的語氣

“This message seems inappropriate”

"這條信息似乎不太合適"

Researchers also assessed the likeability of the sender by asking participants to indicate agreement with the following four statements:

研究人員還通過詢問參與者對以下說法的贊同程度來評估他們的喜好

I would like to work with someone like [Rebecca/Steven],” “I feel as though I would get along well with [Rebecca/Steven],” “[Rebecca/Steven] seems like the kind of person who gets along well with others,” and “[Rebecca/Steven] is probably a likable person.”

我想和瑞貝卡和史蒂芬這樣的人一起工作，“”我覺得我會和瑞貝卡和史蒂芬相處得很好，“”瑞貝卡和史蒂芬看起來像是與其他人相處得很好的人，瑞貝卡和史蒂芬可能是非常討人喜歡的人。“

What did they find? Interestingly, there was a stark gender difference in the way the text messages were perceived.

他們發現了什麼？ 有趣的是，人們對短信的感知方式存在明顯的性別差異。

Consistent with gender stereotypes, texts with affectionate emojis were judged as more likable and appropriate when they were believed to have come from a woman.

與性別刻板印象相一致的是那些感性符號被認爲是女人發的時，就會被看做更討人喜歡也更合理；

Furthermore, text messages with friendly emojis (i.e., smiling faces) were judged as equally appropriate, but more likable, when they were believed to be sent by a man.

此外，帶有感性表情符號的短信(比如，笑臉)被認爲是由男性發送時也被看做是合適的，也更討人喜歡。

The authors write, "Our findings confirm that people’s perceptions of a message and its sender can be affected not only by the gender of the sender but also by his or her emoji usage.

作者寫道:"我們的研究結果證實，人們對信息及其發送者的看法不僅會受到發送者性別的影響，還會受到表情符號使用情況的影響。

These findings are consistent with gender stereotypes in communication (e.g., Sullins, 1992; Weisberg et al., 2011; Ling et al., 2014), showing that people generally perceive affectionately emotive women as more appropriate than affectionately emotive men."

這些發現與溝通中的性別刻板印象一致，表明人們普遍認爲女性的情感豐富較之男性在情感上過度充盈顯得更合理些。

What wisdom might these results hold for our everyday communications?

這些結果對我們的日常交流有什麼啓發呢？

Well, that depends on your gender. If you are a female, both affectionate and friendly emojis appear to be fair game, even in a work setting.

那麼，這取決於你的性別。 如果你是一名女性，即使是在工作環境中，使用感性的表情符號也無傷大雅。

Men, on the other hand, might want to exercise caution when using affectionate emojis.

但另一方面，男性在使用感性表情符號時就要謹慎了。

That said, men should not shy away from using the occasional friendly emoji. After all, it may score them some likability points and, at the very least, it will help break down gender stereotypes in text message communication styles.

也就是說，男人也不必刻意迴避偶爾使用表情符號。 畢竟，這會透露出一些可愛的小意味，至少可以幫助打破通信風格中的性別刻板印象。