Politeness Theory

The Politeness Theory accounts for the redressing of the affronts to face posed by face-threatening acts to addresses. 
Face is a public self-image that a person tries to project.

When someone is trying to portray positive face, they want to be desirable to others.  Additionally, this positive face must be appreciated and approved by others.

So, in a classroom, a student usually doesn’t want to say something out of context because they don’t want to lose positive face.  When a person goes on a date, it’s the same way.  You want to be appreciated by the person you’re with—you want to be desirable on that date.  At the same time, a person who in constantly worried about what others think of them could be considered passive. 

When someone has negative face, they usually have a claim to territory and personal preserves.  So, if a person said “It’s hot in here, is it not?” that’s an example of negative face.  There are many ways a person could interpret that phrase.

The ‘bald on’ record enlists public pressure, and gets credit for honesty and outspokenness.  Doing this makes a person outspoken, which avoids the danger of seeming manipulative.  It also prevents a person from being misunderstood.  So, if a person said, “shut the door” it would be an example of the bald on theory because there is no politeness.

When thinking about face in real life situations, social distance and power are things people must take into consideration.  For example, we may use positive face rather than negative face when speaking with family.  When talking about power, you must take into account social status (aka if I’m trying to do homework in my room and my roommate is being really loud in the living area, I would tell her to be quiet differently then I would a stranger.)