How Do Periods Affect the Perception of Tone in Text Messages?

Abstract

The increased use of computer mediated communication (CMC) in the present time prompted our research to verify if the use of a period at the end of a sentence affects the perception of the tone of the text message. We hypothesized that text messages ending with a period would be perceived as more passive-aggressive compared to text messages without a period by college-aged students. We used two groups of participants where the control group was presented with text messages ending in a period and the experimental group was presented with text messages ending without a period. Using an independent samples t-test, we found a significant difference between the two groups, in the direction of our hypothesis.