Norms of apology depicted in US American and Japanese literature on manners and etiquette

In this study, a cross-cultural comparison was made of (a) types of situations requiring apology and (b) principles for instructing and personalizing apology messages, drawing examples of culturally idealized notions fr om Japanese and U.S. American conduct manuals. The survey first revealed that. (a) Japanese conduct manuals are more concerned with private apologies given for actions of a greater number of people in their. in-group, while U.S. American conduct,manuals focus more on apologies primarily for their own actions in the public places and (b) U.S. American readers are told to offer a "sincere" apology, while Japanese counterparts strive to give a "sunao-na" (indicative of amenable character) apology. While U.S. American conduct,manuals sti ess spontaneity and originality of the wolds used in apology, conformity to the linguistic formulas is strongly emphasized in Japanese conduct manuals. When personalizing their apology, U.S, Americans seem to "individualize" the message, while Japanese seem to "relationalize" the message. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.