If you love to use emojis, you’re going to heart this news.
Researchers from Indiana University say those who use a lot of emojis tend to have higher emotional intelligence, which is the ability to understand, perceive and manage your emotions and the emotions of others.
Less emoji use with friends and romantic partners is associated with a personality style known as avoidant attachment, which often involves prioritizing self-reliance and independence over emotional closeness and intimacy.
“This is the first study to examine emoji use in tandem with key individual characteristics related to people’s communication abilities and interpersonal relationships,” the study authors wrote Wednesday in the journal Plos One.
Three hundred and twenty adults, mostly in their mid-30s, took an online survey that asked about their attachment styles, emotional intelligence and emoji use.
There are three major types of attachment styles — anxious, avoidant and secure. People with anxious attachments often feel insecure in their relationships and fear being rejected or abandoned. Secure attachment is forming healthy relationships with trust, love, affection and respect.
Over 10 billion emojis are sent daily around the world, and the study authors determined that women use them with friends and family more frequently than men.
People with higher emotional intelligence and secure attachment also tend to employ emojis more often, the new research found.
On the other side, women with high levels of avoidant attachment send and receive emojis less often with friends and romantic partners, while men with high levels of avoidant attachment send fewer emojis to romantic partners.
The researchers acknowledged several limitations to their study, including that the participants were mostly white, educated, married and English-speaking heterosexual US residents.
The study authors hope future research includes a larger, more diverse population and explores the type of emojis being exchanged, the content of the message accompanying them and the perception of these exchanges across genders and relationship types.
“The way we interact during virtual communications may reveal something more about ourselves,” the researchers said. “It is not just a smiley face or heart emoji: it’s a way to convey meaning and communicate more effectively, and how you use it tells us something about you.”
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