携帯メールにおける送り手の顔文字付与が受け手の不安に及ぼす影響

In a cellular phone mail, the emoticon is used to represent facial expression or gesture. This study investigated the effect on the receiver's state-anxiety by the sender's use of emoticon, the receiver's sex. and the receiver's trait-anxiety under the condition of using a cellular phone mail when the receiver's state-anxiety arises. Participants were 152 university students (44 men and 'i2 women). The procedures were as follows: (1) setting of a condition in which the receiver's anxiety arise. (2) pre-measurement of the state-anxiety (3) manipuration of the emoticon variable (cellular phone mail with emoticon and without emoticon). (4) post-measurement of the state-anxiety (5) measurement of the trait-anxiety. As a result. the use of emoticon in a cellular phone mail by the sender decreased the state-anxiety of the receiver, and the effect was seen remarkably in women with high trait-anxiety. It was also seen that a cellular phone mail without emoticon by the sender decreased the state-anxiety of men whose trait-anxiety was low. These results showed that the effect of the sender using a cellular phone mail with or without emoticon may differ by the receiver's sex and personality (trait-anxiety).