The Relationship Between the Head and Body of a Text Message: A Study of College Students' Emotional Reactions Giles Gondouin Department of Psychology and Counseling Clinical Psychology Master’s Program Roosevelt University Abstract The current study examines how college students respond emotionally to various elements of text messages—specifically the "head" (the sender and salutation) and the "body" (the content and closing) of the message. A total of 98 college students participated in the study, providing their emotional reactions to five different types of messages with varying tones. Results show that the sender's identity, the tone of the greeting, and the closing statement each significantly influenced emotional responses. Positive emotional responses were most commonly associated with familiar senders and friendly greetings, while more neutral or negative responses were evoked by formal or unexpected messages. The study contributes to our understanding of emotional communication in the digital age and suggests future research on text message impact in different cultural contexts. Introduction In today's digital age, text messages have become one of the primary modes of communication, particularly among college students. The emotional tone of a text message can be influenced by various factors, including the sender's identity, the wording of the message's greeting and body, and the closing. Previous studies have explored how colors impact emotions (Hemphill, 1996; Lang, 1993; Mahnke, 1996), but little research has examined how the structure and components of a text message affect emotional reactions. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the "head" (the sender’s name and salutation) and the "body" (message content and closing) of a text message, and how these elements influence the emotional responses of college students. It Chicago, IL 60607 1 (773) 557-5531 https://www.linkedin.com/in/giles- gondouin-49a082296/