The Effect of Static Anthropomorphic Imag es on Emotion Perceptions in Mobile-Phone Communication

We describe how static anthropomorphic images of avatars affected users’ emotion perceptions of interactants and medium when they engaged in a conversation on a mobile telephone. We utilized measurements of social presence, specifically interactant satisfaction and social richness of medium. The items of these two measurements were modified to include new items of emotional credibility. The results showed no statistically significant effect of static anthropomorphic images on the perceptions of interactant satisfaction and social richness of medium. However, mobile telephone users who saw no images reported significantly higher interactant satisfaction.