Communication within Diverse Cultural Settings

When I think of the diverse cultures that I regularly encounter, and look into my behavior within these cultures, I do believe that my behavior changes, to some extent depending on the culture. When I am with people who are not within my culture, i.e., my religion, my traditions, my ethnicity, my profession, I feel that I am guarded and very cautious of my actions and the message I convey be it verbal or nonverbal. In many cases, I am guarded because I want to be a positive reflection of my culture. Most specifically, my African American culture. This is important to me because though culture is about more than my race or color, it is the most obvious at first glance. In so many cases I believe that people often get the wrong perception of my African American culture, so whenever I encounter someone new I feel obligated to show people that we are so much more than our common stereotypes and misperceptions. After a few encounters though, I feel that a person knows me well enough to no longer even consider the typical stereotypes and appreciate me more as an individual. In regards to my effectively communicating, I am learning more and more how important it is to listen, not only to respond, but to actual hear and receive the message that is being delivered. I plan to be more conscious of this concept. Though I believe I speak pretty well, it is important to appreciate the role of listener. This stands out to me a lot because in so many cases, I am listening, hearing the context of the conversation, then considering schemas that have developed along the way, assuming that I know the outcome and that is not the way effective communicators, listen. I am working to focus more within a conversation on what is being said right then rather than the similar stories I may have heard in the past.