Face Negotiation Theory

1. Face Negotiation Theory There is so much behind this theory. You are going to hate it. I’ll make it brief and to the point.

2. Face negotiation theory deals with Face, and maintaining your face. • Face is a metaphor for the public image people display to others. Face can be applied both ways. • Ting-Toomey developed this theory to explain how different cultures communicate.

3. There is also another researcher, Erving Goffman, who is credited with situating face in contemporary western research. • Ting observes face pertains to favorable self-worth or projected self-worth on the interpersonal scale. Face is a metaphor for the boundaries that people set with their relationship to others

4. However, Goffman believes it is more applicable to apply face negotiation theory to social groups. Overtime face is now being applied to things such as close relationships and small groups.

5. Basically to sum it up, face is important for presenting yourself to another individual. You can also read their face as well. • Face can be maintained, lost, or strengthened. Face is constantly changing! It is shared and managed across cultures, and is present in all cultures. Not a single culture theory!

6. Main interpretations: Face Concern – interest in maintaining one’s face or face of others Face Need – desire to be associated or disassociated with others Positive face – desire to be liked and admired by others. Negative face – desire to be autonomous and free from others. Face-saving – Efforts to avoid embarrassment o vulnerability Face-restoration – Strategy used to preserve autonomy and avoid loss of face. Individualism – A cultural value that places emphasis on the individual over the group. Collectivism – a cultural value that places emphasis on the group over the individual.

7. Main interpretations - Facework Facework – Actions used to deal with face needs/wants of self and others. How people make whatever their doing consistent with their face. Tact Facework – Extent to which a person respects other’s face. Solidarity Facework – Accepting another as a member of an in-group. Approbation Facework – Focusing less on the negative aspects and more on the positive aspects of another.

8. Example of face in action: • You may ask someone in your class to borrow notes. Instead of asking blatantly straight out to use them, you soften up your speech and change your tone to appear more sincere and professional. You may say you will quickly return them after Xeroxing. You must maintain your face with them, and you perceive them as someone that would respond to that face respectfully.

9. Assumptions of Face Negotiation • Self-identity is important in interpersonal interactions, with individuals negotiating their identities differently across cultures. • The management of conflict is mediated by face and culture. • Certain acts threatens one projected face.

10. This theory is EMPIRICAL. It focuses on Cause and Effect of the face, not the individual. It wants to figure out the relationship of faces, and how they will react to certain faces. The research lacks any sort of values. In order to find out how faces act, you will use quantitative research (surveys, for example)