Face Negotiation
by: Jennifer Hall
The theory of face negotiation was developed by Stella Ting-Toomey, a
communication professor at California State University, Fullerton. Her work breaks Face Negotiation into many different parts. By
defining the word Face it will help you with the applications. Griffin
defines Face as a metaphor for our public self image, the way we want
others to see us and treat us.
Ting-Toomey separates us into two different types of societies,
high and low context. These terms describe the way a culture handles
conflict. In a high context culture people are more concerned with the
group rather than the person. When asked whose face they are concerned
with it would be "ours". A good example that is often used to
represent this type of society is Japan. They do not care about their
own face; they want the group to work as a whole. On the flip side of
things a low context culture cares very little about the group and is
more concerned with the person. When asked whose face they are
concerned with, it would be "mine". The best example of this type of
society is America. Most Americans would always rather come out on top
than have to show defeat.
The movie Mystic Pizza is a great example of how America is a low context culture. During the scene where the group is sitting at the dinner table, a fight breaks out between the father and son. The son ran his mouth out of total disrespect for the rest of the table and especially his father. He was not concerned with the feelings of anyone else at the table except himself. This is an excellent example of how petty Americans can be in our low context culture.
Griffin tells us that Ting-Toomey also shows four ways of
negotiating public self-image:
1. Face-restoration- give self freedom and space; protect self
from other's infringement on one's autonomy.
To relate back to the movie, and example of face-restoration is that Kat had started a relationship with a older, married man. Instead of telling everyone about it, she decided to keep it a secret. She was very quiet about it and did not talk about her feelings of the relationship. Even though Daisy, her sister, knew about the affair she was didn't talk to her about it and let Kat have her privacy.
2. Face-saving- signal respect of the other person's need for
freedom, space, dissociation.
An example of face-saving is shown when Daisy comes out of the bathroom to find Kat crying on the bed. At first she wanted to see what was wrong but them she knew that Kat needed her space and didn't want to talk about it. Daisy backed off and let her have her space to deal with the problem.
3. Face-assertion- defend and protect one's need for inclusion.
Kat, being the younger sister lives in the shadow of her older sister Daisy. Daisy is an outgoing person that enjoys going out with her friends and having fun. Kat not having many of her own friends tags along with her sister. She asks if she can go out with her. They end up going out and having a great time.
4. Face-giving- defend and support the other person's need for
inclusion.
In the scene I spoke of earlier when Kat was crying, Daisy approached her later to see how she was doing. She wanted to help her get her mind off of her problem so she invited her to go out and have a good time.
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Men and women differ in many ways, communication is just one of them. To view and application of the Genderlect Theory and see how it relates to Face Negotiation, click HERE
This page was last revised by Jennifer Hall On March 10, 2000