Men and women speak different emoji language: study

A study has found that women interpret and understand emojis differently than men, so the next time you send someone an emoji, make sure it gets interpreted correctly, Independent reported.

This is because emojis are subjective in nature. While some may interpret a tearful face as sadness, others may interpret immense happiness that makes one cry. 

Emojis are a way to express feelings that may differ from person to person, gender to gender, as well as age. The idea of expression is different for everyone.

The research included 523 adults, of whom 49% were men and 51% were females.

The emojis were chosen from the catalogues of Apple, Windows, Android, and WeChat, and the participants were asked to divide them into six different emotional state categories according to their understanding.

The research found that women, as compared to men, were more successful in accurately interpreting emojis into categories of happy, disgusted, fearful, sad, surprised, and angry.

No gender differences were found in the interpretation of the surprised or disgusted emoji.

Dr Ruth Filik, associate professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, said: "What I found most interesting and surprising is that there are so many individual differences in how people interpret these emojis.

"So, we should think of the results in terms of there being differences across people in how they interpret emojis, rather than some people being better at it than others.

"We should keep these differences in mind when using emojis in our messages."

The researchers say the ambiguity of emojis is worth further research, "especially when communicating across gender, age, or cultures."