North Americans from the United States have international stereotypes of being loudly talkative, very friendly to strangers, and being lively and facially expressive in conversations.

How common are these communication traits among Americans as a whole? Are these actions consistent across all contexts of interaction? Because American society in the United States of America is so culturally diverse, generalizations can be misleading (Karandashev, 2021a).

American Overt Expression of Emotions

North American culture is a self-expressive culture. Social norms teach peopleto openly express their emotions. A common belief is that non-restrained emotional self-expression is good for better understanding and shows clear evidence of empathy in interaction. People also believe that open self-expression is healthy and brings relationship satisfaction. This is why many Americans are so talkative and very explicit in their facial expressions. 

Cultural groups in the USA, however, are fairly heterogeneous. So, the emotional expressiveness of European Americans is different from Asian Americans.

Among European Americans, their immigration descent also plays a role in their cultural norms of emotional expression. The ways in which people express their emotions remain consistent with their country of origin.

For instance, European Americans of Irish descent tend to be more expressive. On the other hand, European Americans of Scandinavian descent are generally less expressive (Tsai & Chentsova-Dutton, 2003). It is worthy of note that the differences in emotional expressiveness are especially marked when they express love and happiness.

Americans Tend to Be Positive and Exaggerate

Many Americans like pleasant and positive things and have difficulties dealing with negative emotions. They tend to be positive in their interpersonal attitudes. They encourage communicators to drop their negative emotions. Their lovely sayings are “Everything will be okay!” or “Take it easy.”

Generally, Americans tend to boost and exaggerate their positive as well as negative emotions. They like happiness and anger. They like to “love it” and “hate it.” Appreciating the culture of pride, they like to brag.

In conversations, they appreciate jokes and, generally, a sense of humor. They often use humor to ease tensions in interactions and difficult social situations. Humor also boosts strong positive emotions.

The American Culture of Small Talk

Americans tend to keep their social conversations light and engage in “small talk” rather than serious conversation. They don’t like philosophical discussions and believe that philosophy is too abstract and boring (Hall & Hall, 1990). Thinking too much is not for them. They prefer to think by doing. They prefer to solve problems quickly by small actions rather than by complex processes. They prefer to be functional rather than systemic.

They don’t like to discuss anything in meaningful depth or in a truly dialogical manner. They prefer to dispute and debate public issues rather than meaningfully discuss them. On the other hand, in small talk and interpersonal relations, they tend to be shallow and agreeable. Their lovely saying is “Yes!” in a culturally specific pronunciation. They like small talk and small love. They love everybody and greet everybody on the street but prefer not to get too involved. In-depth discussion makes them bored. Many Americans like to speak and laugh loudly, probably because in this expressive manner they boost their positive emotions.

Americans Have Difficulties in the Expression of Sympathy

They have difficulties dealing with the negative emotions of others in empathic and compassionate ways. It is very evident when they need to respond to someone’s suffering.

For example, Americans are different from Germans in the ways they express sympathy. Americans prefer to stay away and avoid the negative emotions of others, while Germans are more willing to understand the negative emotions of others and express their condolences. Americans are less comfortable when they need to express sympathy, mentioning only negative feelings.

For example, in the study, scientists gave American and German participants the opportunity to write sympathy cards. It was found that Americans were more positive and optimistic than Germans (e.g., “May you find comfort”). On the other hand, Germans were more negative and compassionate (e.g., “I hope these words show how much I share your pain”). (Tsai, Koopmann-Holm, Miyazaki, & Ochs, 2013).

American Culture of Anger Experience and Expression

Several American scholars have noted that the experience and expression of anger is quite common in North American culture.

For example, American social psychologist Carol Tavris (1982) offered a possible explanation for this cultural phenomenon:

“The individualism of American life… creates anger and encourages its release; for when everything is possible, limitations are irksome.”

(Tavris, 1982, p. 65).

Thus, for North Americans, the frequent and strong experiences and expressions of anger stem from the sense of their rights. Their cultural meaning of anger is based on how highly they value individualism, autonomy, and individual rights.

Because of these cultural values, when other people intrude on their personal space, private lives, or argue with their views of the world, they promptly utilize the communication strategy of “active aggression.” They become actively involved, additionally elaborate on their beliefs, and respond emotionally and angrily to those who question their beliefs.

Their communication in response becomes threatening. They become active in their reactions.

They “answer the remark directly, even though it is uncomfortable.”

They “defend themselves by explanation and argument.”

They “use humor and sarcasm to put him in his place.”

They rarely select to “ask others what they think,” “laugh,” and “change the subject.” (Barnlund, 1975, p. 449).

And cultural differences play a more important role than gender roles. Women behave aggressively in such circumstances, in the same way as men.