In a new study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel wanted to find out whether including smileys in work emails actually has an effect on the message.”:)” really does make an impression, they found out—but not the friendly feeling an email writer may intend.
Instead, reading a happy face in the text of a work email made people think that the sender was less competent than if the same message did not contain the emoticon, the researchers found. Even though smiles communicate warmth and competence in person, a smiley could make the reader less likely to share as much information in their reply.
The researchers conducted three experiments with 549 people from 29 countries.
In one experiment, people read an anonymous work email and then evaluated that person based on their competence. Overall, messages without smiley faces led people to believe the sender was more competent than the same emails with added smileys.
