In situations where people want to be liked they copy the other persons body language and texting style.

  • Change language, body language, punctuation, use of emojis

Everyone needs to be liked. By a boss, by a teacher. We need to be liked for our overall wellbeing, because people are social creatures.  People like and connect with people who are similar to them, subconsciously we already know this.  We subtly mirror the other persons facial expressions and body language, which gives the impression that we understand them and feel the same as them. There has been countless studies proving this. But we are in a new age now. We don’t always communicate face to face, we communicate over the phone, email, texts, messenger, instagram, snapchat… In these new ways of communicating we can’t easily use our face and body to relate to people, instead we use punctuation and emojis. Thought this text I will investigate if people copy each others punctuation and emoji use, just like how we copy each others body language.

Emojis. They are a revolutionary invention when it comes to texting but it’s almost a statement to send one. When an emoji is sent it further conveys how a person is feeling like body language does in real life. When you send one back it communicates that you are on the same page. This is seen in Abigail and Annika’s text conversation that was posted on Abigail’s online journal ; Annika: ‘Oh man’ , Abigail: ‘(tongue out emoji),  Annika: ‘Morning (smilie face)_ still ready for me at 8:15?’. In this conversation previously there had been no emojis used but Abigail uses one and then so does Annika. Of course this could have been because they both especially wanted to communicate their emotions in these two text messages, and just a coincidence that they were consecutive.  But, it is also very possible Annika only added an emoji in her next text in response to Abigail’s emoji to show that she still likes her and feels the same she does.  To further my point in Annika and Abigail’s conversation there were many occasions Annika could have used and emoji such as when she texts ‘Yay!’ (a happy face would be suitable after this statement) or ‘R u on the bus’ (a confused face would fit this question well). Annika only uses an emoji after Abigail does. This happens again after four messages back and forth when Abigail texts: ‘Yumm!!! Ur cakes are the best (two tongue out emojis)  and Annika texts: ‘(smilie face emoji)’. This evidence confirms we do copy other people’s texting style like we copy each others body language.

One Reply to “In situations where people want to be liked they copy the other persons body language and texting style.”

  1. Annoyingly I can’t find anything to criticise here. I would perhaps say that in an ideal world you might want to switch from the first to the third person when expressing your hypothesis, as this can add gravitas to your argument.

    You’re certainly on the right track, however.

    CW

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