Machiavellian traits and narcissism: what your emojis say about you
You may fondly imagine that tacking on a cheerful 😊 will convey breezy affability or that a rakish 😎 suggests a devil-may-care swagger. Alas, you could be gravely mistaken.
Research suggests that peppering your messages with these symbols may be less a testament to your sunny disposition and more a window into your darker psychological recesses.
Since their introduction in 1999, emojis have become an inescapable feature of human communication, infiltrating everything from casual texts to corporate memos. Psychologists have now set themselves the task of decoding what lies beneath these digital hieroglyphics. The results suggest that a person's emoji habits can disclose more than they intend.
The study questioned 285 undergraduates with an average age of about 20 about their use of 40 symbols. The participants also completed questionnaires designed to reveal their personality traits.
The results show that among males, heavy emoji use was linked to Machiavellian tendencies and neuroticism, characteristics associated with manipulativeness and mood swings. For women, a fondness for emojis was tied to narcissism.
In other words, a man who eagerly fires off emojis may covertly be trying to bend you to their capricious will, while a woman drowning her messages in hearts and sparkles might be seeking to burnish her personal brand.
Overall, women used emojis more liberally than men, possibly because they use social media and text messaging more.
Women used more emojis than men
MEMENTOJPEG/GETTY IMAGES
There was, however, a small subset of six emojis that were used more by men, including the 'pile of poo', the 'exploding head' and the 'face screaming in fear'. We can only speculate as to the nuanced emotional states being conveyed.
Previous studies had suggested that introverts most often reached for the symbols. Not so, said the new research, which has been published in the journal Current Psychology. Among both males and females, extroverts were the most enthusiastic users.
The findings join a growing body of scholarship on smiley faces and face-palm icons. Another paper, published in 2019, found that students were far more likely to respond well to a task from an academic who used emojis. However, reinforcing the adage that familiarity breeds contempt, they were also more likely to doubt the teacher's competence. In 2018, a survey suggested that more than a third of British adults believed that emojis were to blame for the deterioration of the English language.
Beyond providing fuel for anxious self-reflection, the latest results may carry implications for marketers, campaigners and others interested in the dark arts of persuasion. The researchers note that 'increasingly, companies are mining the contents of social media posts to estimate information about social media users' characteristics'.
Emojis could, they believe, furnish valuable clues for 'psychographic profiling' — the practice of targeting individuals based on their innermost traits, whether for selling consumer goods or shaping voting behaviour.
For now, the analysis of emojis remains relatively rare in such efforts. But in the future, your choice of a wink over a thumbs-up may help determine which adverts you see.
Until then, be aware: when you next send a face crying with laughter, it may not mean what you think.
What your emojis might actually mean
A study published in the journal PLOS One in December found that people who frequently used emojis with potential partners went on to engage in more romantic and sexual activities over time.
Another study found that over-60s frequently struggled to interpret some emojis. A symbol representing surprise — a small yellow face looking speechless with its eyes wide open and eyebrows raised — proved to be the most difficult to decipher. The results came from the University of Ottawa.
A study published in Frontiers in Psychology last year found that people who used the most emojis had the lowest levels of 'openness to experience' — a trait that measures how open-minded, imaginative and insightful a person is.
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