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Diversity and the Effects of Culture 89

now in California, with profound implications for communication. However, we
elected to discuss black– white communication because misunderstandings here
appear to be among the most serious and volatile at this time. Numerous frequent
news reports of African American men and boys shot by white police officers should
alert us to the importance of understanding black- white communication issues. They
perceive each other as threatening and have generally negative evaluations of each
other; it seems especially important to help each group understand the other. We
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realize we are stereotyping the communication patterns of both groups. However,
we take this risk with you because we think it is important that you know and be sen-
sitive to the fact that some communication differences have cultural origins. However,
we agree with Orbe, who notes that the considerable diversity within the African
American community has been largely ignored by researchers. 35
Foeman and Pressley have summarized research that describes “typical” (although
we caution you again that there is no such thing as “typical”) black communication,
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particularly in organizational settings. Black culture in the United States is an oral
culture, so verbal inventiveness and virtuosity of expression are highly valued. What
many whites perceive as boastfulness Foeman and Pressley call assertiveness, which
takes both verbal and nonverbal forms (for instance, trying to top someone else’s boast,
strutting across the street). Black managers are perceived as forthright or overly reac-
tive. In a conflict, for instance, a black is more likely to confront an individual directly,
whereas a white manager is more likely to approach the problem indirectly. Conse-
quently, some blacks perceive whites as underreactive, but some whites see blacks as
overreactive. Degree of responsiveness (expressiveness) differs; blacks are more likely to
respond both verbally and physically (e.g., gesturing often with their hands), whereas
whites tend to focus on verbal responses. Blacks make less direct eye contact, but they
compensate by standing closer to their conversational partner than most whites. These
differences in cultural communication patterns can create serious misunderstandings.
For instance, a white expecting more eye contact may be likely to repeat or rephrase
statements in order to get the expected signs of understanding (such as eye contact),
whereas the black person believes the white person is being condescending.
The black culture is more collective than the more dominant white culture of the
United States. For example, Penington examined the interactions of middle- class
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African American and European American mother– daughter dyads. While both
sets of dyads used similar communication strategies to negotiate their relationships,
the African American dyads expressed more intensity and greater desire for closeness.
The European American dyads expected greater autonomy and preferred more
individualism.
African Americans and European Americans express themselves verbally in dif-
ferent ways. Blacks are more playful than most whites in their use of language and
relish playing verbal games. Foeman and Pressley explain that blacks signify (or hint)
at questions rather than asking them directly because they perceive disclosure of per-
sonal information to be voluntary; thus, questions are implied so that the person
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being asked will not feel vulnerable or obliged to answer. In addition, blacks use the
backchannel (or call- response) to indicate interest and involvement in the discussion.
For example, in black churches the services resemble a dialogue, with congregation

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