Culture Differences in Feedback Exchange: Should I Send a (happy face emoticon) or (sad face emoticon)?

Abstract

The goal of this thesis was to examine cultural differences in feedback exchange among friends, using emojis as a new measure of emotional response. In two studies, we looked at whether Americans and Chinese would respond to positive and negative feedback from their friends differently, via emojis. We also looked at whether Americans and Chinese would also anticipate different responses from their friends when they gave the feedback. Finally, we tested if the three proposed mediators, relational mobility, changeability, and self-construal, explained the observed cultural differences. In Study 1, we found both nations interpreted common emojis similarly. We also found that Chinese used more positive than negative emojis during the feedback exchange process (feedback-giver and feedback-receiver), compared to Americans. In Study 2, we found that compared to Americans, Chinese anticipated that their friends would have less negative emotional reactions to, and agree more with, negative feedback. Chinese were also more likely to send positive emojis along with their feedback in general than Americans. The three proposed mediators did not explain the cultural difference in feedback exchange. However, we found that the post-hoc mediator of “anticipated agreement” explained cultural differences in expected negative emotional reactions of their friends. Overall we replicated findings that East Asians show relatively more positive attitudes in receiving negative feedback during friendship interaction.