EXPRESS: “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”: The influence of emojis on willingness to forgive

Emojis influence perceptions of both messages and senders. One area where their effects are less understood is in the context of forgiveness. In the current study, participants (N = 443) read scenarios containing a fictional message exchange between two characters; one of whom had transgressed and subsequently apologised. Their apology would be either text-only ("I'm sorry"), emoji-only (" "), or text plus emoji ("I'm sorry "). For each scenario, participants were asked to indicate their own likelihood of forgiving the transgressor. Results revealed that text plus emoji apologies were most likely to be forgiven, whereas emoji-only apologies were least likely to be forgiven. The findings highlight the role of emojis in relationship maintenance in online communication, suggesting that senders may wish to combine text messages with emojis when communicating an apology online. Additionally, while emojis alone can convey emotions and serve as nonverbal cues, they may be less effective than verbal apologies in fostering forgiveness.