Effects of emotional cues transmitted in e-mail communication on the emotions experienced by senders and receivers

This paper focuses on communication by e-mail. An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence the degree of emotional cues transmitted during e-mail communication has on the emotions experienced by the senders and receivers. Twenty-two participants of this experiment were divided into two groups based on the degrees of emotional cues transmitted: a High group and a Low group. The emotions experienced in the e-mail communication by the High group were then compared to that of the Low group. The results of this experiment showed a tendency for unpleasant emotions such as anger and anxiety to increase when emotional cues transmitted are low (i.e., the Low group). The findings suggest that low degrees of emotional cues transmitted between senders and receivers in e-mail communication tend to cause some misunderstanding. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.