<p>(Phys.org)Women are twice as likely as men to use emoticons in text messages, according to a new study from Rice University.</p><p>Emoticons are graphic symbols that use punctuation marks and letters to represent facial expressions to convey a person's mood, help provide context to a person's textual communication and clarify a message that could otherwise possibly be misconstrued.</p><p>The study, "A Longitudinal Study of Emoticon Use in Text Messaging from Smartphones," used smartphone data from men and women over six months and aggregated 124,000 text messages. The participants were given free iPhones to use for the test period but didn't know what researchers were investigating.</p><p>"We believe that our study represents the first naturalistic and longitudinal study that collects real emoticon use from text messages 'in the wild,'" said Philip Kortum, assistant professor of psychology at Rice and one of the study's authors.</p><p><a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-10-women-emoticons-men-text-messaging.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112711757/women-emoticons-text-messages-101112/">Women Use Emoticons In Text Messages More Than Men</a> (RedOrbit)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dFSlpbckY6F5dgM9sNb2KrGrQ6qUM&ned=us">10 additional articles.</a></p>