Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Would you trust me please? ling.upenn.edu/~cahern/ Christopher Ahern and Jason Quinley University of Pennsylvania and University of T¨ ubingen July 23, 2013 Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 1 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Goals Model of polite linguistic behavior in requests. What are polite linguistic expressions? How do we use polite expressions? Why do we use polite expressions? Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 2 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Talk Outline Introduction 1 Politeness 2 Trust Games 3 Solutions 4 Conclusions 5 Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 3 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Consider the following... What are polite expressions? (1) a. Could you lend me a dollar/euro/franc? b. I would be forever in your debt if you could lend me a dollar/euro/franc. (2) a. Could you lend me 1,000 dollars/euros/francs? b. I would be forever in your debt if you could lend me 1,000 dollars/euros/francs. (3) a. Excuse me Sir/Ma’am, If it isn’t too much trouble, would you be able to tell me the time? b. Could you tell me the time? c. What time is it? d. Tell me the time! Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 4 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Why be polite? Asymmetry Individuals possess different aptitudes and abilities. Scarcity Resources are limited. Society Politeness increases range of interactions between individuals with other-regarding preferences. Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 5 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Crucial points for Politeness theory Face 1 Face-threatening acts (FTAs) 2 Strategies to mitigate FTAs 3 Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 6 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Face What is face? Brown and Levinson (1978) Face (Goffman, 1967) consists of an individual’s basic social needs: Negative face: Autonomy Positive face: Acceptance Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 7 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Face Face Threats Face-Threatening Acts (FTAs): An action that threatens an individual’s positive or negative face. Requests threaten negative face Insults threaten positive face Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 8 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Face-threatening acts Mitigating FTAs When situations call for it... ...speakers must commit a face-threatening act ( FTA ). In order to mitigate the weight of a FTA, speakers may use several strategies. Don’t Redress On Record Positive Politeness Do FTA Redress Negative Politeness Intention Off Record Don’t do FTA Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 9 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Face-threatening acts Threats at Lunch!!! What to do if you forget your wallet going to lunch: Don’t do FTA: (Don’t ask for money) Off Record: “Oh no! I forgot my wallet at my hotel!” Negative Politeness: “You don’t have to, but would you mind lending me a bit of money?” Positive Politeness: “Congratulations on your promotion! You really deserve it! You’re the best! Lend me a few dollars.” Don’t Redress: “Give me some money.” Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 10 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Face-threatening acts Goldilocks and the three FTAs Too much “Please, if you could, move out of the way of that speeding car,” “Excuse me Sir/Ma’am, if it’s not too much trouble could tell me the time.” Too little “Could you give me a thousand dollars?” “Tell me the time!” Just right (Excuse me,) could you tell me the time? Could you find it in your magnificent heart to loan me a thousand dollars? I’d be forever in your debt! Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 11 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Crucial points for Trust Games Game Structure 1 Backward Induction 2 Requests as Trust Games 3 Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 12 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Trust Games Consist of... An Investor and a Trustee. Investor begins with an initial endowment, e , which she can keep or invest any amount of. If she invests the endowment with the Trustee it grows by some positive rate, r . The Trustee must then decide what proportion, p , if any, to return to the Investor. Backward Induction Trustee does best when she keeps all money invested. Knowing this, Investor should never invest. Everyone does worse than they could by cooperating. ( pr > 1) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 13 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Game Structure I 0 e ( e , 0 ) T p 0 ( 0 , re ) ( pre , ( 1 − p ) re ) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 14 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Requests Requests as Trust Games (Quinley, 2012) Asymmetries in abilities lead to requests. Requests involve a loss of face on the part of the requester, and carry a risk that the request will be denied. X can ask ( A ) or not ask Y ( ¬ A ) to grant a request. Y can grant ( G ) or not grant ( ¬ G ) the request. Requests as Extended Trust Games X can ask ( A ) or not ask Y ( ¬ A ) to grant a request. Y can grant ( G ) or not grant ( ¬ G ) the request. X can thank ( T ) Y for granting the request, or not ( ¬ T ). Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 15 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Game Structure X A ¬ A Y G ¬ G X ¬ T T Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 16 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Payoff Structure Costs c x is the cost to X to achieve desired outcome. c y is cost to Y . ( c x > c y ) b x is the benefit to X of desired outcome ( c x > b x ) Face A requires face “payment” f r by X Y receives m r f r from A . ( m r ≥ 1) T requires face “payment” f t by X Y receives m t f t from T . ( m t ≥ 1) Benefit outweighs face costs, ( f r + f t ) > b x Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 17 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games Game Structure X ¬ A A ( b x − c x , 0 ) Y ¬ G G ( b x − c x − f r , m r f r ) X ¬ T T ( b x − f r , m r f r − c y ) ( b x − f r − f t , m r f r + m t f t − c y ) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 18 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Trust Games What to expect Backward Induction U x ( ¬ T ) > U x ( T ) X prefers ¬ T to T Y prefers ¬ G to ¬ T U y ( ¬ G ) > U y ( ¬ T ) U x ( ¬ A ) > U x ( ¬ G ) X prefers ¬ A to ¬ G Result No one should ever make requests because they will never be granted. Yet we can, and do, make polite requests of others. Why is this possible? Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 19 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Crucial points for Solutions Observation 1 Sympathy 2 Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 20 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Observation Observation Bateson et al. (2006) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 21 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Observation Formulation New Utility Function h ( A , c x , c y , f r , f t ) : a function that takes the outcome and the parameters of the request and returns a positive or negative valuation (a postive or negative loss in face): V i ( A ) = U i ( A )+ h ( A , c x , c y , f r , f t ) (1) New Thresholds EV x ( A ) > V x ( ¬ A ) (2) EV y ( G ) > V y ( ¬ G ) (3) V x ( T ) > V x ( ¬ T ) (4) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 22 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Observation An Example You see a stranger with arms full of boxes struggling to open a door X: “Would you mind opening the door for me?” Y: “Sure!”/“No!” X: “Thanks”/... Saying “No!” or being ungrateful cause a loss in face on the part of the unwilling in the estimation of third-party observers. h ( G , c x , c y , f r , f t ) > h ( ¬ G , c x , c y , f r , f t ) h ( T , c x , c y , f r , f t ) > h ( ¬ T , c x , c y , f r , f t ) (5) f > − f Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 23 / 35
Introduction Politeness Trust Games Solutions Conclusions Observation Problem What about... ...when we interact with strangers without observation? Imagine encountering a stranger struggling to open the door, and no one is around to guilt you into helping. Conscience is just... ...an “inner voice that tells us that somebody might be looking” (Mencken, 1949) Ahern (UPENN) Would you trust me please? July 23, 2013 24 / 35
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