Influence of emoticons on deception detection: An empirical exploration

Abstract

Text messages with strategically placed emoticons impact recipient perceptions regarding truth or deception of the content. This article describes an experiment using 3 treatments applied randomly to 4 deceptive and 4 truthful message snippets. The original content of the snippets related to scholarship interviewee comments that truthfully or deceptively described their background. Each message was represented in one of three ways: plain text, annotated text, or text with embedded emoticons. The data were analyzed using a 2 (Text Veracity: Honest or Dishonest) x 3 (Cues: Plain Text vs Annotated Text vs Emoticons) design. The dependent variable reflected participant perception of the snippet's honesty or dishonesty. Results show extra emotional cues impacted perceptions of the message content. Overall, this study demonstrated annotated text and text with embedded emotion were more likely to be judged as deceptive than plain text. This was particularly true when messages were deceptive. True messages were detected as truthful more often in plain text.