1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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…

6. 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

7. Growing and continued dependence on text or email messaging
As of August 2008, there were 1.3 billion 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

8. 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…

9. 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

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

11. Sarcastic message
READ

12. No Humor message
READ

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

14. Impact of Emoticons in Sarcastic messages

15. Summary of Study 1
Sarcasm increases negative feelings and reduces positive feelings in 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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?

19. Results: Emotional Reaction

20. Results: Cooperative Behavior

21. 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

22. 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”

23. Thank you to my junior co-author, texting guru, and long distance data analyzer!
…who also happens to be my 17 year old daughter!

24. 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