Journal Articles

The Interactional Organization of Self-praise : Epistemics, Preference Organization, and Implications for Identity Research

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This article contributes to a social psychological understanding of identity by identifying some features of the interactional organization of self-praise. Early conversation analytic work on the epistemics of self-assessment and constraints against self-praise has shown that praising oneself is an interactionally delicate matter that may leave one vulnerable to “unfavorable character assessment” or accusations of bragging (Pomerantz 1978:89). Drawing on data examples from a range of settings, this article develops Pomerantz’s work and examines the role of reported third-party compliments (e.g., “she . . . said ‘you look really lovely’”) in objectifying self-praise. Analyzing instances in which speakers initiate repair on their self-descriptions in favor of reported third-party compliments, I provide evidence of practices suggesting a norm against direct self-praise and an interactional preference for embedding positive self-descriptions within a third-party attribution. I consider the implications of these analyses for a social psychological understanding of identity and its measurement.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Social Psychology Quarterly

Call Number

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Publisher

Thousand Oak : sage publisher., 2012

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

01902725

Classification

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Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Vol. 75 no. 1, March 2012,pp. 52-79

Subject(s)

Conversation analysis
Preference organization
The Interactional Organization of Self-praise

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