Computer-Mediated Communication of Emotions

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is one of the most widely utilized communication techniques in the business world. Although widely used, little is known about the effectiveness of communicating affective information, emotion in particular, through CMC. This book examined whether or not CMC transfer affective information, and, if so, the extent of the information transferred via CMC. Integrating relevant literature from psychology as well as communication research, a conceptual model is developed based on a modified version of Brunswik's lens model. The results from this study provide some useful information for practitioners as well as for researchers. For practitioners, this study suggests that communicating emotions through electronic media requires careful selections of emotion cues that will be included in the message. For researchers, this study presents a conceptural model that may be used as a foundation for future research in this area.