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Compliments may reflect a variety of cultural norms and values and in so doing they help to express and maintain those values.
Indeed, compliments are of particular interest in regard to the reflection and expression of cultural values either because
of their nature as judgments or because of their overt expression of approval or admiration of peoples work, appearance, or
taste. This means that certain cultural values can be expressed more or less explicitly through compliments. In the following
discussion of compliments and cultural values, I shall try to sort out how certain cultural values of society are reflected
in compliment responses, and how these compliments serve to encourage or reinforce these values.
According to Manes
(1983), compliments represent one means by which an individual or, more importantly, society as a whole can encourage or reinforce
certain desired behaviors. They are usually enacted to express approval of certain behaviors, which are thought to be of positive
worth. So, people through these compliments tend to encourage similar behaviors in the future either on the part of the addressee
or others who hear the compliment. Quite the contrary to this, Manes states that there are a number of cases where compliments
make no reference to specific behavior and hence there will be no reason to assume that the speaker has any intention of affecting
the addressees future actions. By so doing, the major function of complimenting will be the establishment or reinforcement
of solidarity between the speaker and the hearer. For this purpose, the judgmental and manipulative aspects of complimenting
become less important and the elements of approval and similarity of tastes and interest brought into focus. And it is this
very emphasis on similarities, which results in the reinforcement of societal values.
One of the most fascinating
aspects of the American English compliments when considered from the point of view of societal values is the predominance
of compliments on personal appearance in womens interaction. Manes (1983) points out that women are more concerned about their
appearance and that women of all ages tend to make themselves attractive. She goes on to argue that this sort of compliments
are more than just a reflection of the importance of personal appearance; they are at the same time a means to reinforce that
importance. So, when ones effort to make her/himself attractive are rewarded by approval, one is likely to continue those
efforts. The importance of this is highlighted when such efforts are not complimented, in this case one may feel hurt or insulted.
Certain cultural values, according to Manes (1983), may also be reflected in and reinforced by compliments eventhough
they are never directly complimented. The value of newness is certainly the most important of these. While the adjective new,
unlike nice, or beautiful, is not in and of itself positive, the value of newness is regularly reflected in compliments. This
means that any new or recent acquisition, from a new house to a new hairdo, will be noticed and commented on positively by
almost anyone who sees it for the first time or once it is brought to ones attention. In addition, the omission of such compliments
in cases like these may nearly always be taken as an insult or rejection.
The value, which Americans attach to newness,
as it is stated above, is also reflected in responses to compliments. It has been observed that compliment responses generally
pose a dilemma for the recipient in that agreeing with a compliment may be seen as self-praise and at the same time it is
impolite to disagree or reject a compliment. Manes (1983) points out that, in the United States, people use a number of strategies
to avoid this conflict. One of the most frequent strategies is to deny or play down the worth of the thing complimented without
overtly denying the compliment. This usually done by focusing attention on other qualities rather than specifically complimented.
Of course, the quality denied must also be something valued, otherwise the denial is meaningless. It is interesting, therefore,
that the quality most frequently denied in responses to compliments on attractiveness is newness. So, one would conclude that
the value placed on newness is reflected both in the fact that new acquisitions are complimented and equally in the fact that
it is possible to deny newness in responding to a compliment on attractiveness
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