Smileys generally seem like a good idea to express your approval or happiness. But when it comes to a business context, apparently, the humble emoji is a no-no.
笑脸符号通常是一种很好的表达你的赞同或快乐的方式。但在商务背景中，很明显，这种诙谐的表情符号是一个禁忌。In a new study, smileys and similar positive-looking emojis could decrease information sharing due to perceptions of low competence.
在一项新研究中，笑脸表情和类似的积极表情符号可能会使其他人认为你的能力不高而减少与你的信息共享。'Our findings provide first-time evidence that, contrary to actual smiles, smileys do not increase perceptions of warmth and actually decrease perceptions of competence,' said the researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of Haifa and Amsterdam University.
来自海法大学、阿姆斯特丹大学以及本-古里安大学的研究人员表示：“我们的发现首次证明了，与实际的微笑相反，笑脸符号不会增加人们对温暖的感觉，反而会减少对能力的感知。”
Perceptions of low competence in turn undermined information sharing.
对低能力的认知反而会破坏信息的共享。
The researchers conducted three experiments on 549 participants from 29 countries.
研究人员对来自29个国家的549名参与者进行了三项实验。One experiment involved participants to read a work-related email from an unknown person, then evaluate the warmth and competency of that person.
在一个实验中，参与者被要求阅读一封由匿名者发送的、与工作相关的电子邮件，然后对该匿名者的能力和热情程度进行评估。Another experiment compared the use of a smiley to a smiling or neutral photograph.
另一个实验则比较了在分别使用笑脸符号、微笑及中性照片后的效果。Both experiments concluded that face-to-face smiles increase both competency and warmth, as well as a smiling sender was perceived as more competent and friendly than a neutral one.
两项实验都得出结论，面对面的微笑会增加对方对你能力的肯定，并能感受到你的热情，相比中性照片，微笑更能体现你的能力和友好。But smileys in an e-mail had no effect on the perception of warmth. In fact, it had a negative effect on the perception of competence. The smiley also did not influence the evaluation of the sender’s friendliness.
但在电子邮件中，笑脸符号并不能让对方体会到你的温暖。事实上，它对能力的感知有负面影响。笑脸符号也不会提升发件人的友好程度。The third experiment involved the role of gender where the study showed that when the gender of an email writer was unknown and it included a smiley, recipients were more likely to assume that it was sent by a woman.
第三个实验涉及性别角色，研究表明，如果一个电子邮件作者的性别未知，当邮件中包含笑脸符号时，更多的人认为发件人是一名女性。For now, at least, a smiley can only replace a smile when you already know the other person. In initial interactions, it is better to avoid using smileys, regardless of age or gender.
至少目前，只有当你已经认识对方的时候，笑脸表情才能代替微笑。在最初的交往中，最好是避免使用笑脸符号，不论年龄和性别。