Effect of contents of e-mail messages on affections

This research aimed to examine the affective aspect of e-mail communications. 42 university students were randomly paired and asked to participate in an e-mail discussion on a prescribed topic. Whenever subject received an e-mail they were asked a series of questions corresponding to; how they felt (their affective state) and how they interpreted the sender's affective state (affective interpretation)? After the discussion period participants were asked to complete a Discrete Emotions Scale IV questionnaire as an index of their own affective traits. In order to classify the students a factor analysis of the affective traits data was conducted and a cluster analysis performed on the basis of their scores. Subjects were separated into two groups ('Hostility affection orientation group' and 'Other affection orientation group). Multiple regression analysis was conducted in order to investigate the influence of the received e-mail contents and the affective interpretations on receivers' affective states. The results show that the receiver's interpretation of the sender's affections from a received e-mail influences the receiver's own affective state and that this influence is also related to the receiver's own affective traits. Additionally, results also revealed that questions about gender also influenced the receiver's affective state.