The effects of incompetency, audience acquaintanceship, and anticipated evaluative feedback on face-saving behavior.

Abstract Two experiments explored the influence of incompetency, audience acquaintanceship, and anticipated evaluative feedback on face-saving. In both, subjects sang privately, received a computerized voice evaluation (competent or incompetent), then sang before an audience. Face-saving, defined as sacrificing tangible rewards to avoid public embarrassment, was measured by the amount of time subjects sang before the audience. Payoffs were increased by longer public singing. In Experiment I face-saving was greater under incompetency than competency. It was greatest among incompetent subjects expecting classmates' feedback, and least among competent subjects not expecting strangers' feedback. Experiment II, in which incompetency was held constant, introduced a “close friends” condition and a manipulation involving meeting vs not meeting total strangers. Face-saving was greater before close friends and strangers who would be met afterwards than before acquaintances or strangers who would not be met. Implications for opposing theories about behavior before others are discussed. Conclusion: contrary to several theories, close friends do not liberate individuals from face-saving. Instead, the future dependencies in such relations may increase face-saving.