Communication Currents

New Series Vol. 1, No. 10

A non-Chinese learning about Chinese culture often soon finds out that Chinese culture puts a high premium on saving face—not being embarrassed or humiliated by others, and not embarrassing or humiliating others. For example, Chinese people avoid saying that a co-worker is incompetent. Because of cultural differences, however, one must learn and not assume what situations are face-losing to Chinese (and any other culture). If one Chinese tells another Chinese that she seems to have gained weight, Chinese will interpret the remark as “care and concern for the other’s well-being,” also a goal in Chinese culture. U.S. Americans will likely not interpret being told they have gained weight as a demonstration of care and concern, but as face-threatening and a violation of cultural norms. In individualistic cultures, such as the US, people tend to prioritize their own self-respect, while collectivistic cultures, such as China, prioritize protecting others’ face needs.

The study adopted Brown and Levinson’s 1987 definition of “face” (“public self-image that every member of a society wants to claim”) and face-threatening acts (FTA), and Goffman’s 1967 definition of “facework”—“actions taken by a person to be consistent with their face.” Goffman theorized “avoidance facework” (“gracious withdrawal from interactios”) and “corrective facework” (FTA is acknowledged and directly responded to). Situations primarily dictate facework, but differences among individuals also matter; individuals with self-positive face prioritize their self-image and approval by others, while individuals with self-negative face prioritize their own autonomy and are more likely to be confrontational.

Xiaowen Guan and Sergey S. Berg at the University of St. Thomas ran an experiment in which Americans were told by an East Asian that they seem to have gained weight, and recorded participants’ verbal and nonverbal responses. Studying intercultural norm violations in which one or more parties unknowingly violate others’ cultural norms may help limit conflicts and negative cultural stereotypes, assisting intercultural understanding and relationship building. The authors concede that intercultural misunderstandings can be moderated but never eliminated.

A pre-test showed that, of 8 FTA scenarios, commenting on weight gain had the largest cultural differences between Chinese and US Americans. The 103 experiment subjects were 65% women students at a Midwestern university, 71% European American, 18% African American, 5% Asian American, and 5% multiracial. Two coders watched videotapes of the 103 exchanges; intercoder reliability was very high. Coders observed the five most common oral reactions to the weight gain comment as: confirm weight gain (48%), question comment (33%), justify or explain weight gain (32%), filler words (28%), and point out mistake (18%). The six most common nonverbal reactions were: laugh/chuckle/smile (63%), withdraw eye contact (56%), face turn red (31%), shrug shoulders (13%), nod head (11%), vocal change (11%). Overall, 64% employed non-corrective avoiding facework and 25% who used no facework; 67% of facework included avoiding tactics and only 11% corrective ones. Subjects also completed surveys of 20 Likert-type scales (5 points). Subjects perceived the weight gain comment as impolite and inappropriate.

Researchers’ analysis identified pieces of data from the subjects and the observing coders that were highly correlated and combined them to create hypothetical (latent) variables such as intensity/severity (how individuals experience a moment) and situation attribution (how they interpreted it). Survey data converged to some extent with, and helped explain, coders’ observations, but differences also existed. The authors concluded that there are multiple reasons to avoid a norm-violating intercultural FTA, and multiple way to do so.

Limitations of the study stated by the authors were: “significant[] limits” on, and “extreme caution about” generalizability due to analyzing only one scenario; lack of variance in outcomes, particularly corrective facework, due to the scenario’s nature (acquaintance/stranger comment on weight gain); small sample size; and Hawthorne effects (subjects altering their behavior because they were being watched/recorded).

Still, the authors said the study’s practical implications include providing evidence that, contrary to stereotypes of Americans, they are not always direct and confrontational in their communications. Not only did the Americans mostly employ avoidance responses, none told their protagonist that she was making a cultural mistake or questioned her intent. Dialogue, which did not happen, is the most mutually beneficial response to the experimental scenario. In any case, developing awareness of responses like avoidance and negative nonverbal cues is useful for communicators in intercultural encounters to identify when they may have unintentionally violated a cultural norm.

Communication Currents Discussion Questions

1. How might the results have changed if this experiment was conducted with a more diverse, nationally representative (59% White, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 12.6% Black, 6% Asian, 2.3% multiracial; 51% female; all age groups)? Why or why not?
2. American students were told they looked like they had gained weight by an East Asian woman, which was realistic because an East Asian would not necessarily know Americans would tend to react negatively. Should the experiment have included a control in which the person mentioning perceived weight gain was of some other ethnicity(s)? Why or why not?
3. This experiment concerned collectivistic versus individualistic cultures. What other cultural differences would be productive to study and why?

For additional suggestions about how to use this and other Communication Currents in the classroom, see: https://www.natcom.org/publications/communication-currents/integrating-communication-currents-classroom

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Xiaowen Guan is an associate professor, Department of Emerging Media, and Sergey S. Berg is an associate professor, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, at University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA.

This essay, by Dane S. Claussen, translates the scholarly journal article, Xiaowen Guan and Sergey S. Berg (2024). “Wait…did you just call me fat”: A multimethod study of U.S. Americans’ facework in an intercultural face-threatening act. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 17(3): 293-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2024.2366497.

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