Suspicious Receivers’ Goals and Behaviors 9
want to maintain a harmonious relationship with the conversational partner. Maintaining a
harmonious relationship is one of the fundamental goals people possess in interpersonal
interactions (Canary & Cody, 1994). Especially in close relationships, people try to maintain
relationship because the relationship provides satisfaction, sense of security and support, and
pride (Wilmot, 1987). Individuals put effort and engage in a variety of strategic behaviors to
keep the relationship intact (Canary & Cody, 1994; Duck, 1999). Shaping the message to be
more indirect and less obtrusive can be an example of such effort individuals put to maintain the
relationship.
Kim and Wilson (1994) posit that the notion of social appropriateness can be expanded
to include more fine-grained goal constructs. Three specific categories of their suggestions are
(a) minimizing imposition, (b) considering the other’s feelings, and (c) avoiding disapproval for
self. First, minimizing imposition entails a person’s goal to protect his or her partner’s negative
face-need. That is, people acknowledge that the partner has freedom of action and, thus, avoid
imposing on the partner’s autonomy. Second, consideration for the other’s feeling is a person’s
concern about how his or her action would affect the partner’s feelings. It is related with people’s
attempt to protect their partner’s positive face-need (i.e., the want to be liked). Finally, avoiding
disapproval for self is related to the person’s desire to save his or her own positive face. It is
speculated that people would choose strategies that would not cause, if possible, negative self-
evaluation by their partner.
The three goals can be applied to the context of suspicion, specifically with regard to a
suspicious receiver’s interaction goals. As discussed in the previous section, it is expected that
the unexpected experience of suspicion would create uncertainty and confusion on a receiver’s
mind, increasing the need to gain more information. However, displaying suspicion may be risky
in a sense that uncertainty, inherently residing in suspicion, makes its explicit display illegitimate.
Convention