Collective Face, Politeness Strategies, and Discomfort: Communication of American Domestic Students and Chinese International Students

Abstract

This two-by-three between-subjects factorial study tested how American domestic students and Chinese international students responded to a scenario of performance failure by a friend whose membership varies across conditions. The study measured collective face, politeness strategies, and participants’ discomfort feelings. Robust findings were observed in the condition where Chinese participants imagined witnessing an ingroup-friend’s incompetence resulting in the strong correlation between collective face and discomfort. The cultural difference between these two groups regarding relating self-images to group-images is also observed. The implications of the study in assessing collective images, identities, and values for intercultural communication research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Collective face
• politeness
• discomfort
• Chinese international students
• intercultural communication