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Using lots of emojis when texting family and friends?
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A new study appears to show people who add the characters depicting emotions, objects and animals tend to have higher emotional intelligence.
Researchers from Indiana University say the online study, which was conducted over several days before and after Christmas last year, sought to assess “relationships between emoji use and traits related to communication and interpersonal skills,” the authors recently wrote in the journal PLOS One.
The study, which involved 320 American adults who were mostly in their 30s and who regularly sent and received text-based messages, asked participants questions about their attachment style, emotional intelligence and emoji use.
The main attachment styles include anxious, avoidant and secure. People who are anxious typically feel insecure in their relationships and worry about abandonment.
Those who are avoidant tend to be characterized as indifferent, while secure attachment indicates having a healthy relationship with people you trust and higher self-esteem.
Researchers found that women with higher levels of attachment avoidance were less likely to send and receive emojis with friends or people they were dating and intimate partners.
For men, higher levels of attachment avoidance revealed fewer emojis were used.
However, among interactions with friends and family, women used emojis more often than men.
The authors said participants in the study mainly identified as white, educated, married, heterosexual and English-speaking.
“Nonetheless, this is the first study to examine emoji use in tandem with key individual characteristics related to people’s communication abilities and interpersonal relationships,” the authors wrote.
They also said future research should examine possible differences in larger and more diverse participants.