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.