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-Chillicothe 13th International Conference of Social Dilemmas August 24th, 2009

Strict Reciprocity Reciprocity BUT… Doing what the other person did the last time Tit-for-Tat Nice Forgiving Retaliatory Clear BUT… TFT/strict reciprocity is a reactive strategy ONE OF THE MOST LIKELY WAYS TO BEHAVE IN A DILEMMA IS TO RECIPROCATE WHAT THE OTHER HAS DONE…. IN FACT, THE STRATEGY TFT IS A FORM OF STRICT RECIPROCITY AND HAS BEEN SHOW TO OBTAIN THE HIGHEST OUTCOMES IN ONGOING DILEMMAS SOME OF THE REASON WHY THIS IS SO IS THAT, IT IS …. BUT, TFT IS REACTIVE NOT PROACTIVE AND CAN DETEROATE INTO NONCOOPERATION

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) SO IF TFT IS SUCEPTIBLE TO THIS NEGATIVE RECIPROCITY CYCLE WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT CAN CAUSE IT AND HOPEFULLY HOW CAN WE FIX IT IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION A FEW OF THE STUMBLING BLOCKS I WILL BE DISCUSSING I WILL PRESENT SOME DATA THAT ADDRESSES EACH OF THESE QUESTIONS

Rumble, Van Lange, & Parks, 2009 Noise: F(1,114)=12.21, p=.001 120 Washington State University Undergraduates 26 trial 2-person give some game Programmed strategy: TFT Noise manipulation: every 4 trials 2 coins were subtracted from strategy’s choice 2 PERSON GIVE SOME GAME PLAYED FOR 26 TRIALS, EACH PLAYER HAD 10 COINS ON EACH TRIAL TO KEEP OR GIVE TO THE OTHER, THE COINS THEY KEEP WERE WORTH .50 AND THE COINS THEY GAVE WERE WORTH $1, SO IT WAS PERSONALLY BEST TO KEEP ALL COINS AND HOPE OTHER GAVE YOU ALL THEIR COINS TOOK PLACE VIA COMPUTER, RECEIVED FEEDBACK DIRECTLY FROM EXPERIMENTER ALL PARTICIPANTS PLAYED AGAINST THE TFT STRATEGY, FIRST CHOICE WAS 6 COINS, NOISE MANIPULATION: PARTICIPANTS WERE TOLD THAT OCCASSIONALLY THE COMPUTER MAY CHANGE A CHOICE…ON TRIAL FOUR AND EVERY FOUR TRIALS AFTER 2 COINS WERE SUBTRACTED FROM STRATEGY’S CHOICE

Communication channels in Cyberspace What are real-world sources of noise that may interfere with cooperation? Communication channels in Cyberspace MORE REAL WORLD EXAMPLE OF NOISE OR UNCERTAINTY HUMOR IN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS… HOW IT CAN BE MISPERCEIVED…

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

What happens if sarcasm is misunderstood? 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? NEGATIVE VERSUS POSITIVE HUMOR EXAMPLE OF STUDENTS…

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 message READ EMAIL

No Humor message READ EMAIL

Main effect of message type NEGATIVE FEELINGS FIRST, THEN POSTIVE SIGNIFICANT AT P<.05

Impact of Emoticons in Sarcastic messages

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 Reaction

Results: Cooperative Behavior

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-Chillicothe 13th International Conference of Social Dilemmas August 24th, 2009