Cultural Influences on Perceptions of Emotions Depicted in Emojis

Previous research suggests that people from different cultures weigh cues in the eyes versus mouth differently while interpreting emotions. In Western cultures, where overt emotional display is the norm, people weigh the mouth region more heavily when interpreting facial emotional expression in comparison with people from Eastern cultures. By contrast, in Eastern cultures, where subtle emotion display is the norm, people weigh the eyes region more heavily in comparison with people from Western cultures. Emojis are frequently used paralinguistic cues that convey emotions. Here, we report the results of an online quasiexperimental study in which emotion cues in the eyes and mouth regions of emojis were manipulated to test for differences in the perception of emotions among Westerners and Easterners (N = 427). Consistent with previous research, relative to one another, Westerners' and Easterners' ratings of the emotional valence (i.e., happiness/sadness) of emojis were influenced more heavily by the mouth and eyes, respectively. Thus, the present study adds to the literature suggesting cultural differences in the use of mouth versus eye cues to interpret emotions and supports the notion that these differences extend to paralinguistic cues such as emojis and, consequently, have implications for digital communication.