We describe a computational model of social norms based on identifying values that a certain culture finds desirable such as dignity, generosity and politeness. The model quantifies these values in the form of Culture-Sanctioned Social Metrics (CSSMs) and treats social norms as the requirement to maximize these metrics from the perspective of the self, peers and public. This model can be used to create realistic social simulations, to explain or predict human behavior in specific scenarios, or as a component of robots or agents that need to interact with humans in specific social-cultural settings. We validate the model by using it to represent a complex deception scenario and showing that it can yield non-trivial insights such as the explanation of apparently irrational human behavior.
A theory of social and cultural behavior strongly related to social norms is Brown and Levinson's politeness theory @cite_35 , which centers around the maintenance of face'' defined as the public self-image of the adult human. More specifically, they define the positive face'' that refers to one's self esteem and the negative face'' that refers to one's freedom to act. While the Brown-Levinson model aims to discover the culture-independent universals in human communication, it is clear that their definition of politeness does not necessarily match the definition of politeness and indeed the desirable behavior in specific cultures. While indirect speech might help preserve face, there are cultures where direct speech is considered polite and desirable. The interpretation of the Brown-Levinson model in the context of specific cultures is a significant ongoing research topic @cite_25 @cite_1 .
@cite_35 @cite_1 @cite_25
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Symbols and abbreviations Foreword John J. Gumperz Introduction to the reissue Notes 1. Introduction 2. Summarized argument 3. The argument: intuitive bases and derivative definitions 4. On the nature of the model 5. Realizations of politeness strategies in language 6. Derivative hypotheses 7. Sociological implications 8. Implications for language studies 9. Conclusions Notes References Author index Subject index. Abstract This paper is a critical examination of the theory of linguistic politeness proposed by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987). The paper focuses on the notion, fundamental to their theory, of ‘face’, and questions the universality of the proposed constituents of ‘face’ in the light of the Japanese language and culture. First, results from anthropological studies on Japanese society are presented to illustrate the discrepancy between Brown and Levinson's assumption and the Japanese notion of ‘face’, Secondly, linguistic evidence is given that Brown and Levinson's theory provides wrong predictions for Japanese politeness phenomena. Examples are drawn from formulaic expressions, honorifics and the verbs of giving and receiving. One conclusion from these observations is that a universal theory of linguistic politeness must take into account at a more fundamental level the cultural variability in the constituents of ‘face’. Abstract This paper presents an account of politeness phenomena in modern Chinese. The modern conception of politeness as well as its historical origin are discussed. A critical comparison is made between western notions of face and politeness and their Chinese counterparts. Four politeness maxims are formulated and illustrated. The relation between politeness on the one hand, and language and conversation on the other, is also discussed.