What Would Sigmund Freud Think About WhatsApp Sticker?

: A
Psychoanalysis Activity

Renavi Aziza (17320137)

Department of English Literature, Faculty of Humanities

Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang

Abstract

This paper considers the motives of WhatsApp sticker used in chatting activity. The
urgency of this research is for knowing why people more convenience using sticker
than only text base. The author explored it with using psychoanalysis theory by
Sigmund Freud with using participant observation through Instagram, Twitter, and
WhatsApp story to collect the data. The finding is sticker in WhatsApp visualize
which represents the feeling or emotion of the WhatsApp user. What interesting is
psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud is able to break the mystery of the existence and
the usage of WhatsApp sticker in order to send the intention of message towards
the receiver. Also, it is useful to decrease wasting words while communicating.
Keywords: psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, WhatsApp sticker, communication

Background

Communication technology has developed very fast. It conducts the style of

communication into the modern one which can decrease the essential of face-to-
face communication. People frequently do indirect communication rather than
direct. By using technology, or commonly called as social media such as,
WhatsApp, Messenger, Line, Kakao Talk, and so on, people tend to decorate their
communication to be more communicative. Those applications are for making
communication or chatting easier and faster with someone or even with group of
people and sometimes you have not known before. Each application has its own
features to make communication more variable.
 Since study at university, I explored what kind of chatting application
generally used and almost all use WhatsApp which is easier, faster, and simpler.
WhatsApp has many varieties of feature such as private and group video call, voice
call, voice notes, text based, document sender, emoji, etc. WhatsApp provides those
features as facility to represent or reflect the intentions, idea, and feeling. In 2018,
precisely on October 25, WhatsApp has launched an announcement on
blog.whatsapp.com, a feature which is called as ‘Sticker’ for Android and iOS.
WhatsApp sticker has a same usage of emoji or GIF, but it is in different form.
What make it more attractive are the sender can add, modify and make their own
sticker which depends on what they want through an extended application by
WhatsApp. Also, the sticker creator can publish and share their own whereas
WhatsApp has provided the sticker set. WhatsApp provides convenience on
accessing the sticker. For instance, when A user wants to collect a new sticker which
is sent by B user, the A user only needs to tap the sticker and click ‘add to favourites’.
Then, it automatically saves to A user’s device and can be used at any time.

Recently, WhatsApp sticker frequently used as alternative to interpret what

the sender want and need in getting or sending the message. Also, according to
shakuro.com, WhatsApp stickers have sense of art and attractiveness in its visual.
The sensation between using WhatsApp sticker and only text base may be different.
Moreover, WhatsApp sticker makes the reader can use their imagination to
understand what it means and where it refers to. It relates with the psychology of
the sender during communication with using WhatsApp sticker. Thus, I would like
to draw and discuss what motives on WhatsApp user more often use WhatsApp
sticker than text trough Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theory.

Theoretical Framework

The popular theory of psychoanalysis is introduced by Sigmund Freud in

his 28th lecture. Freud (1973) says the creation of culture is made by human’s
behaviour. It is influenced by human’s psychology that affects society. He stated
that human’s psyche is divided into two section; the conscious and the unconscious.
The conscious is the section which associated with external factors, while the
unconscious is filled by instinctual steer and suppressed desire. Then, the extended
theory in between of conscious and unconscious is preconscious as the binary
model. Preconscious is a section which can recall memory or traumatic event
(Storey, 2008). Furthermore, Freud developed the final model of psyche which is
divided into three parts; the id, the super-ego and the ego.

The id is the wildest intentions of human’s thought. It is filled by primitive

idea, dark, impulsive, etc (Shorts in Psychology, 2018). The id is unorganized and
only think about the satisfaction and fascination of desire. Meanwhile, the super-
ego is the thought which always follow the rules and socially acceptable. The super-
ego will consider which is good or not if agreeing the instinct. Then, the last is ego.
It is same as the judge; the decision maker. The ego will provide the final decision
about what and how human should do. Before deciding, the ego will hear the id and
the super-ego then think which one is more make sense (Mcleod, 2018).

source: freepik and youtube

Between three of them, there will be an existence of conflict. The conflict

of ego and id bear defense mechanism. Defense mechanism will keep human in safe
position from the guilt and restlessness of the desires (Neuro Transmissions, 2017).
It also happened in dreams. Dream is the most dramatic stages of human thoughts.
It represents as unconscious wishes and censored by the ego. Dream can be a
symbol of representing the id then ego as the final policing and meaning (Storey,
et. al.). If dream as scenes of the unconscious, joke is a little bit different. Joke also
comes from the unconscious but it reveals something about the elusive parts
(Nicholas, 2020); not easily to understand. Joke can be a judgement to something
in humorous way, a representation of desire, and a kind of contemplating mind into
something that impulse laugh and imagination (Freud, 1905).

These days, Freud’s theory of jokes, dream and more psychoanalytic relate
with WhatsApp sticker interpretation. People mostly consider themselves to be
humourist, eligible to have hallucination, and all of it does not come in sudden.
WhatsApp sticker as the image of those considerations. The intentions of
WhatsApp user in using WhatsApp sticker in order to understand the motives. Here,
I have collected the data about the reasons why using WhatsApp sticker which
linked up with psychoanalysis theory.

Method

I use participant observation which is interviewing my followers to answer

a question, ‘What the respondents prefer in using sticker or text based on WhatsApp
during chatting?’ on Instagram with using question box feature, tweet in Twitter
and striking answers through WhatsApp story. The focus lies on social interaction,
psychoanalytical and experiences on WhatsApp while using sticker instead of only
text based. I prefer use these features because it was quite simple and easy to collect.
In Instagram, I got six answers which 99% are women and around 20’s years old.
Then, in twitter, I only got two replies of my tweets which all of them are women,
and last, I used WhatsApp story to get answers. I got answers by fifty-fifty men and
women. All the participants are active user of WhatsApp because it has been their
daily platform in communication. I also define the gender of the respondents
because male and female has different sights in understanding the phenomenon.
Also, the subject of my participant will change to be the sender and the receiver.
Then, here are the responds:
Source: twitter.com
Source: WhatsApp
 Source: Instagram

Those data will be analysed further in Analysis page.

Analysis

In the first step of analysis, I would like to flatten the categorize in

understanding types of sticker. There are four types of WhatsApp sticker such as
jokes, rejection, savage, and hallucination. Those have its function, intention and
visual sense which can impulse psychological responses.

1. Jokes
 It contains of humorous sense in order to make the receiver laugh or just
smile. On the other hand, jokes sticker can be a depiction of criticism of
some issues. Jokes sticker are divided into two character; dirty jokes
(contain a sexual, rude, and disturbing sense in visual) and safe jokes
(contains the pure sense of humour).
2. Rejection

Rejection sticker is a respond for avoiding something which one of the

sender does not want to discuss it. Normally, it used flat expression in
visualisation and added words to emphasize the rejection.
3. Savageness
 Savageness is a type of sticker that expresses annoyance, pique or
aggravation towards the receiver or the sender. The factor can be
misunderstanding, unexpected answer and so on.
4. Hallucination

Hallucination refers to a dream of having a person or thing which hardly

cannot be owned. This type expresses the feeling or desire in order to release
what its person wants.

By defining those categorize, we can know more how to analyse the data.
The data depicts why people regularly use sticker and what kind of expression they
want to show. According to (Freud, 1905), using sticker as a joke in order to show
unconscious respond which derives from id and it is considered by the super-ego.
Then, the ego deliberates both of them. The respondents who are saying that sticker
is used for joking only, they may involve the id to control the ego in order to express
the desire of someone to laugh or understand what they want (Freud, et. al.)
(Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, 2015). Jokes can refer to wild thought which in
humorous way, thus it can be funny. Then, commonly they send sticker to someone
who close to them. It indicates that they can keep saving their reputation as a good
person (Nicholas, 2020).

The differences of gender also may influence the usage of sticker. Male and
female have different sense in using sticker. For example, male frequently use
sticker as jokes such as dirty jokes to make others laugh when responding the chat.
Meanwhile, female use sticker to end the chat which regularly use rejection sticker
or savageness which still contains cute visualization or feminine one.

The deeper discuss the data, 80% stated that sticker is used for ending the
chatting or conversation. It is because the unconscious of human psyche that have
no more intentions to examine it. On the contrary, there can be a something that
involve the preconscious to recall a memory of bad event or traumatic, so the
rejection sticker as a good way to prevent it. Then, consciously the chat has ended
or distracted (Shorts in Psychology, 2018).

Furthermore, using sticker to make the receiver understand more about the
emotion of the sender. Visual can give any imaginations that depicts the feeling or
situation. Freud (Storey, et.al) defined it as dreams. For example, hallucination
sticker used. Hallucination is for filling the hole of someone’s position as though it
becomes reality. It conducts the id to make a visualization then the super-ego helps
to counter the wildness of the id made. At last, the ego will decide which
visualization or dreams assumed or understood.

Conclusion

The existence of WhatsApp sticker makes the communication varies and

decrease unimportant words. In addition, it can be a way to analyse the psyche of
human being. Both the sender and receiver communicate for achieving something
which commonly called as intention or motive. The intention or motive of using
WhatsApp sticker is for declaring, expressing, and giving visualize about what both
needs and wishes, of course it relates with psychoanalysis theory which conducted
by Sigmund Freud. I hope this study can give the new sight of psychoanalyzing
marginal thing which can be a massive understanding. Ultimately, the further
studies are extremely needed to criticise the previous.

References
Freud, S. (1905). Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious by Sigmund Freud.
Retrieved from https://www.sigmundfreud.net/jokes-and-their-relation-to-
the-unconscious-pdf-ebook.jsp

Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks. (2015). The Comedy of Domination: Psychoanalysis

and the Conceit of Whiteness Author(s): Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks Source:
19(2), 134–162. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41389448

Mcleod, S. (2018). Sigmund Freud The Case of Anna O.

Neuro Transmissions. (2017). What is Psychoanalysis_ - YouTube. Retrieved

October 15, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGACJYDYCz4&t=446s

Nicholas, T. (2020). Joker and Psychoanalysis_ What Sigmund Freud can tell us
about Joker (Video Essay) - YouTube. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzvYjKgbFzw

Shorts in Psychology. (2018). Freud’s Structure of Personality Theory - YouTube.

Retrieved May 19, 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfrrl8_U1Ac&t=424s

Storey, J. (2008). Cultural theory (Fifth). Edinburgh: Pearson Longman.