Science of Emotion and Sensibility (감성과학)

Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility (한국감성과학회)
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Is it a Smile or Ridicule? Understanding the Positivity of Smile Emoticons between High and Low Status Teenagers in Online Games

미소인가? 조소인가?: 온라인 게임에서 지위가 높은 청소년과 낮은 청소년의 웃음 이모티콘 긍정성 이해 차이

  • 이국희 (경기대학교 진성애교양대학 교양학부)
  • Received : 2021.02.10
  • Accepted : 2021.06.04
  • Published : 2021.09.30
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Abstract

Studies have found that people with higher social status pay little attention to other people's emotions and facial expressions. However, only a few studies have made similar observations on adolescents with high cyberspace social status. Therefore, this study sought to identify how adolescents with different online game character social statuses interpreted the smile emoticons in negative and positive situations, that is, did they perceive the emoticon to be positive (smile, encouragement, and consolation) or negative (derision, ridicule, and sarcasm). In Experiment 1, the participants were separated into three groups; those who had a lower than global average online game character status, those who had the same as the global average, and those who had higher than the global average. The participants were then asked to judge the meaning of the smile emoticon received in various positive or negative situations. In Experiment 2, the game character levels of the participants were set to be either higher or lower than the others' characters, and they were again asked to judge the meaning of the smile emoticon received in the positive or negative situations. In Experiment 3, the participants were separated into four groups; lower level than the average game character status (no information on the level of acquaintance's game character), lower than the average but higher than the character of the other, higher than the average status (no information on the other's character level), and higher than the average but lower than the character of the other, and asked to judge the meaning of the smile emoticon in positive or negative situations. It was found that when participants had a lower-level character compared to the average, had a lower-level character than the other, and had higher than the average but lower than the other's character, they interpreted the smile emoticon as derision, ridicule, or sarcasm. However, participants with higher level characters, higher than that of the other, and lower than the average but higher than the other interpreted the emoticon as a smile or consolation. This study was significant because it demonstrated the impact of an adolescent's social cyberspace status on their online communication.

현실에서 사회적 지위가 높은 사람은 낮은 사람보다 타인의 정서나 표정에 주의를 기울이지 않는다는 연구들에는 진전이 있었다. 그러나 가상 세계에서 사회적 지위가 높은 사람, 그 중에서도 청소년에게 유사한 현상이 나타나는지에 대한 연구는 드물었다. 본 연구는 게임이라는 가상 세계에서 지위가 높은 청소년과 낮은 청소년이 긍정적인 상황에서 수신한 웃음 이모티콘(^^)과 부정적인 상황에서 수신한 동일 이모티콘의 의미를 긍정적으로 해석하는지(미소나 격려, 위로) 아니면 부정적으로 해석하는지(조소, 조롱, 비아냥거림)를 확인함으로써 선행연구의 한계를 보완하고자 이루어졌다. 이를 위해 실험 1은 참가자들이 조종하는 게임 캐릭터의 지위가 게임 세계 평균보다 낮은 조건, 같은 조건, 높은 조건으로 구분한 후, 긍정적 혹은 부정적 상황에서 수신한 웃음 이모티콘의 긍정성을 판단하게 하였다. 실험 2는 참가자들이 조종하는 게임 캐릭터의 지위를 아는 사람보다 낮게 혹은 높게 설정한 후, 긍정적 혹은 부정적 상황에서 수신한 웃음 이모티콘의 긍정성을 판단하게 하였다. 실험 3은 참가자들이 조종하는 게임 캐릭터의 지위를 평균보다 낮음(아는 사람 정보는 없음), 평균보다 낮은데 아는 사람은 더 낮음, 평균보다 높음(아는 사람 정보는 없음), 평균보다 높은데 아는 사람은 더 높음으로 구분한 후, 긍정적 혹은 부정적 상황에서 수신한 웃음 이모티콘의 긍정성을 판단하게 하였다. 결과적으로 참가자들은 평균적으로 지위가 낮을 때, 아는 사람보다 지위가 낮을 때, 평균적으로 지위가 높지만 아는 사람은 더 높을 때 웃음 이모티콘의 의미를 조소, 조롱, 비아냥거림으로 해석하는 경향을 확인할 수 있었다. 그러나 평균적으로 지위가 높거나, 아는 사람보다 지위가 높거나, 평균적으로 지위가 낮지만 아는 사람은 더 낮은 참가자들은 웃음 이모티콘의 의미를 미소나 위로로 해석하였다. 본 연구는 가상세계에서 형성된 청소년의 지위가 온라인 의사소통에 미치는 영향을 확인한 드문 연구로서 중요하다.

Keywords

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