➪ If you don't want to send the wrong message, watch how you punctuate your texts. Text messages that end with a period are perceived to be less sincere than messages that do not, according to newly published research from Binghamton University. A team of researchers led by Celia Klin, associate professor of psychology and associate dean at Binghamton University's Harpur College, recruited 126 Binghamton undergraduates, who read a series of exchanges that appeared either as text messages or as handwritten notes.
➪ In the 16 experimental exchanges, the sender's message contained a statement followed by an invitation phrased as a question (e.g., Dave gave me his extra tickets. Wanna come?). The receiver's response was an affirmative one-word response (Okay, Sure, Yeah, Yup). There were two versions of each experimental exchange: one in which the receiver's response ended with a period and one in which it did not end with any punctuation. Based on the participants' responses, text messages that ended with a period were rated as less sincere than text messages that did not end with a period.
➪ According to Klin, these results indicate that punctuation influences the perceived meaning of text messages. Even though most of the important social and contextual cues were missing, the sincerity of the short messages was evaluated differently depending on the presence or absence of a period.
➪ "Texting is lacking many of the social cues used in actual face-to-face conversations. When speaking, people easily convey social and emotional information with eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses, and so on," said Klin. "People obviously can't use these mechanisms when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them -- emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation."
❖ punctuate --vt.加標點於；不時打斷 ❖
參考例句：
➘The pupils have not yet learned to punctuate correctly.
小學生尚未學會正確使用標點符號。
➘Be sure to punctuate your sentences with the correct marks in the right places.
一定要在你文章句子中的正確地方標上正確的標點符號。
❖ psychology --n.心理，心理學，心理狀態 ❖
參考例句：
➘She has a background in child psychology.
她受過兒童心理學的教育。
➘He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.
他在劍橋大學學習哲學和心理學。
❖ punctuation --n.標點符號，標點法 ❖
參考例句：
➘My son's punctuation is terrible.
我兒子的標點符號很糟糕。
➘A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.
一篇沒有任何標點符號的文章是很難懂的。
❖ sincerity --n.真誠，誠意；真實 ❖
參考例句：
➘His sincerity added much more authority to the story.
他的真誠更增加了故事的說服力。
➘He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.
他竭力讓我瞭解他的誠意。
❖ mechanisms --n.機械( mechanism的名詞複數 )；機械裝置；[生物學] 機制；機械作用 ❖
參考例句：
➘The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.
這項研究將使人能夠直接地瞭解分子的機理。
➘He explained how the two mechanisms worked.
他解釋這兩台機械裝置是如何工作的。
❖ mimic --v.模仿，戲弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 ❖
參考例句：
➘A parrot can mimic a person's voice.
鸚鵡能學人的聲音。
➘He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.
他過去總是模仿別人講話的特點。
文章來源：句號結尾的短信似乎缺乏真摯之情
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