This study is subject to the following limitations which can also be directions for future research.
To begin with, due to the time limit, we only recruited a small number of intermediate subjects from Japanese- and English-speaking countries, which might not be enough to represent the overall tendency of comforting strategy use. A bigger pool of subjects at different proficiency levels from other cultural backgrounds can be recruited to see whether cross-cultural variations still exist or not.
Secondly, the perception task conducted in the present study was just one of the many measures. Future researchers may examine effectiveness of comforting strategies by forming a group of native speakers to evaluate whether the speakers’ comforting messages are effective or not. For the production task, our subjects were told to respond freely all by themselves. To make the perception and production tasks comparable on an equal ground, future research may
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require the subjects to utter only one expression consisting of their effective strategy to comfort others.
Thirdly, the present study merely chose three factors to manipulate the comforting scenarios; thus, other factors such as gender and familiarity which have been also proved to be influential (cf. Burleson 2003, Xu 2007) can be taken into consideration in future studies.
Lastly, the current study focusing on the influence of intercultural variations was simply conducted in a monolingual Chinese version, which might be too indirect to observe the influence of intercultural variations. Future studies might investigate the issue by designing an experiment with two sessions: one in the subjects’ first languages and the other in their target language, Chinese, to make a direct comparison.
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APPENDIX A
TEST ITEMS FOR THE ODCT & EET
Exercise-A
你在餐廳當經理，客人跑來跟你抱怨。
經理:請問有甚麼可以為你服務 的嗎?
客人:你們服務生的態度很差 喔，叫他他都不理我
聽到客人這麼說，你會對他說甚 麼呢?
__________________________
Exercise-B
你的老闆也在旁邊聽到客人的抱 怨，他說了下面這句話:
「真的很抱歉，我們會再跟服務 生提醒一下。」
你覺得這句話會讓客人心情變好 嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效給 4
分，最無效給1 分)
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1-A
同學和你本來在聊天。你們看到隔壁的老奶奶做完檢查從醫院回來，心情看 起來非常難過。
你：奶奶！檢查結果怎麼樣？為什 麼你看起來這麼難過?
奶奶：醫生說……說…我可能得了 很嚴重的病，治不好了…
聽到奶奶這樣說，你會對她說甚麼 呢?
__________________________
1-B
同學也在旁邊安慰奶奶。他說「老 奶奶，你現在一定很傷心。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到奶奶嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
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他如果說:「老奶奶，現在醫生都很厲 害，你一定會沒事的。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到奶奶嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
他如果說:「我們先陪你散散步，放鬆 一下。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到奶奶嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
他如果說:「老奶奶，其實事情可能沒 你想的那麼糟。」
109
你覺得這句話會安慰到奶奶嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
他如果說:「老奶奶，先不要擔心，等 結果出來再說。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到奶奶嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
2-A
你和同事在等電梯下班。主管也走過來，心情看起來很難過。
你：主管怎麼了嗎？
主管：這工作快要做不下去了…每 天被下面的組員欺負。他們還故意 害我要賠錢，真的很想辭職。
110
聽到主管這樣說，你會對他說甚麼 呢?
__________________________
2-B
同事也在旁邊安慰主管，她說：「主
管，我也遇過這種事，我知道那種 感覺。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到主管嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「主管，也許後面情況就會 慢慢變好了。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到主管嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
111
她如果說:「主管，我們可以找個地方 慢慢聽你說。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到主管嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「主管，情況可能不是你認 為的那麼嚴重啊。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到主管嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「主管，要不要跟他們溝通 一下，看有甚麼誤會?」
112
你覺得這句話會安慰到主管嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
3-A
你和同學去辦公室時遇到以前的英文老師。他心情看起來不太好。
你：老師你怎麼看著成績單在皺 眉頭?
英文老師：是不是我教的太差 了？為什麼我們班的表現這麼不 理想?
聽到老師這樣說，你會對她說甚 麼呢?
__________________________
3-B
同學也在旁邊安慰老師。她說「老 師，我知道你看到學生這樣一定會 難過。」
113
你覺得這句話會安慰到老師嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「老師，等他們習慣你的教 法，下次就會考好了。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到老師嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「老師，也許我們可以從學 生的角度給你意見喔。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到老師嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
114
他如果說:「老師，不是你的問題，是 考試太難了。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到老師嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
他如果說:「老師可以看學生都錯甚 麼題目，再調整一下。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到老師嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
115
4-A
你和另一個老師在辦公室講事情時，學生忽然哭著來找你，他非常難過。
你：同學你來找老師有甚麼事嗎?
學生：升大學的考試結果出來 了，老師我考壞了，沒有大學念 了…
聽到學生這樣說，你會對他說甚 麼呢?
_____________________________
4-B
另一個老師也在旁邊安慰學生。她 說「同學，我知道考不好讓你覺得 很失望。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到學生嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
116
她如果說:「同學，還是有別的方法可 以上大學的。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到學生嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「同學你慢慢講，我們都在 這裡陪你。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到學生嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
他如果說:「沒關係，考不好還是有大 學念的。」
117
你覺得這句話會安慰到學生嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
她如果說:「同學先別哭，還可以用其 他方法申請學校。」
你覺得這句話會安慰到學生嗎?
(從 4 分到 1 分，最有效的給 4 分，
最無效的給1 分)
5-A
你和另一個老師在聊天，學生走過來，看起來心情不太好。
你：你為什麼不開心啊?
學生：老師~同學一直笑我是死胖 子，我覺得很難過。
118
聽到學生這樣說，你會對她說甚 麼呢?
__________________________
5-B
另一個老師也在旁邊安慰學生。他
另一個老師也在旁邊安慰學生。他