ACCEPTANCE OF COMPLIMENTS AMONG POLYNESIANSDevin Nakama

Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Previous Research

Herbert (1990) Created a nominal scale that categorized compliment responses.

Knapp, Hopper, and Bell (1984) Studied compliment behavior within American culture. Found that content of compliments most often focused on

appearance and performance. Matsuura (2002)

Did a cross-cultural study with Japanese and Americans on compliment response patterns.

Found that social distance was another important factor in determining response patterns.

Previous Research cont.

More accepting towards compliments regarding appearance.

More accepting towards compliments regarding ability.

Also, compliment responses for Japanese are more dependent on social distance from giver of compliment (e.g. mother, close friend, advisor, classmate)

Americans (Knapp et al., 1984) Japanese (Matsuura, 2002)

Significance/ Uniqueness

Compliment behavior has been studied in many different cultures

Has helped understanding in a cultural sense of: Communication Values Social Psychology

Very limited research on Polynesian compliment behavior

Are Polynesians more accepting of compliments directed at ability or appearance?

Are Polynesian’s compliment responses also affected by social distance?

Research Questions

1. Polynesians are more accepting of compliments toward ability.

2. Polynesian compliment responses are significantly affected by social distance.

Hypotheses

Variables

Independent Variable Referent of Compliment (Appearance, Ability) Social Class (Mother, Friend, Classmate, Teacher) Acceptance (Accept/ Non-Accept)

Dependent Variable Polynesian’s Frequency of Acceptance

Method

Participants 80 Polynesian (Kirch, 2010) university-level students

Age: 18-25 (Matsuura, 2002) Both male and female Volunteered to take survey

Materials Questionnaire (Matsuura, 2002)

Questions on responses to compliments based on: Appearance and ability Social distance (mother, friend, classmate, teacher)

16 situations were made to cover all combinations between compliment referents and social distance.

To prevent fatigue effect among subjects, 16 situations were divided into 2 separate questionnaires with 8 situations each (Matsuura, 2002).

Compliment Response Scale (Herbert, 1990)

Sample Question 1

Imagine that you are wearing a shirt you recently bought at a local department store. Suppose your mother and classmate give you a compliment about your shirt on different occasions. How would you respond to their compliments? Please write down exact words that you might say to each person. a) Mother: “That’s new, isn’t it? You look nice”

I might say, “ b) Classmate: “New shirt! You look great.”

I might say, “

Sample Question 2

Imagine that you played a guitar at a college concert. Suppose your close friend and academic advisor praised your performance. How would you respond to their compliments? Please write down exact words that you might say to each person.

End of Questionnaire Survey

About Yourself:

1. Sex: M/F 2. Age: ( ) 3. Major: ( ) 4. Native Language: ( ) 5. Experience of living in a foreign

country?: Yes/No If yes, when and where?

When: from ( ) years old to ( ) years old Where: ( )

Method cont.

Procedure Polynesian students were asked to answer one of the

questionnaires. Responses to each of the questions were categorized

according to compliment response type scale (Herbert, 1990).

Compliment Response Scale (Herbert, 1990)

1. Appreciation Token 2. Comment

Acceptance- Single 3. Praise Upgrade 4. Comment History 5. Reassignment 6. Return

7. Scale Down 8. Question 9. Disagreement 10. Qualification 11. No

Acknowledgement 12. Request

Interpretation

Compliment Response Categorization Graph

(Herbert, 1990)

Results

3 factorial designs Hypothesis 1- Do Polynesians tend to be more

acceptable of compliments toward ability? 2(compliment referent: ability, appearance) x 2(acceptation:

accepted, not accepted) 2(1)=1.542, p>.05, =.71 Found that Polynesians do not prefer ability compliments

over appearance compliments

Results cont.

Hypothesis 2- Does social class affect Polynesian compliment behavior? 2(acceptation of appearance compliment) x 4(social class: mom, friend,

classmate, teacher) 2(3)=6.506, p>.05, c=0.143 There was no significant difference in responses to appearance

compliments given by those of different social classes 2(acceptation of ability compliment) x 4(social class: mom, friend,

classmate teacher) 2(3)=42.347, p<.01, c=0.364 There was significant difference in responses to ability compliments

given by those of different social classes Ability compliments are less accepted from classmates and more

accepted from teacher/advisor status

Graph of Acceptance of Compliments Referring to Ability and Appearance by Different Social Distances

Conclusion

Although the test produced mixed results, there is sufficient data that contributes to the study of Polynesian compliment behavior. Polynesians accept both appearance and

ability compliments at similar frequency All participants have been exposed to Western

culture that may have balanced the outcome of compliment acceptance

Conclusion cont.

Social distance has a significant effect on ability compliments Ability compliments are less accepted from

classmates and more accepted from teachers/advisors

Studies on Polynesian peer interactions suggest that status rivalry is common in Polynesian culture from a young age (Roopnarine & Johnson, 1994)

Future Research

Incorporating gender into the study Desire for purer sample of Polynesians with

minimal exposure to Western culture Use method that could possibly analyze verbal

compliment behavior rather than written survey

References

Herbert, R. K. (1990). Sex-based differences in

compliment behavior. Language in Society, 19, 201-224. Kirch, P. V., (2010). Peopling of the pacific: A holistic

anthropological perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology. 39, 131-148.

Knapp, M. L., Hopper, R., Bell, R. (1984). Compliments: A descriptive taxonomy. Journal of Communication, 34, 12-31.

Matsuura, H. (2002). A cross-cultural study of compliment responses in American English and Japanese. Journal of Commerce, Economics and Economic History, 71, 53-66.

Roopnarine, J., & Johnson, J. (1994). Children’s play in diverse cultures. Suny Press, 73-87.