Listening

1. Listening Chapter 7

2. LISTENING Is an active process Creates meaning from information gathered Deals with spoken messages Interpretations may differ STUDENTS—take Listening Skills Survey on WordPress

3. Importance of Effective Listening • College students spend about 50% of their time listening • 20% speaking • 13% reading • 12% writing • Vital for personal and professional relationships • Impacts our physical health • We speak 120-150 wpm, but our brain can process 500-600 wmp

4. Misconceptions of Listening Assumptions that lead people to overestimate their listening skills: Hearing is the same as listening Hearing is physically receiving the message Listening is a conscious process, assigning meaning, and responding Listening is natural and effortless Some people are better listeners You can develop your listening skills All listeners hear the same thing Like connotative meaning, we assign meaning based on our experiences

5. Stages of Listening (HURIER) • Hearing • Physical reception • Understanding • Comprehend meaning • Remembering • Store and retrieve • Interpreting • Assign meaning based on verbal & nonverbal cues • Signal your interpretation of message to speaker • Evaluating • Judging statements • Separate fact from opinion

6. Stages of Listening (HURIER) • Responding • Stonewalling—silence & no facial expression • Backchanneling—nodding, “uh huh,” “I understand” • Paraphrasing—repeat in your words what speaker said • Empathizing—you understand and share feelings of speaker

7. Stages of Listening (HURIER) • Responding • Supporting—express agreement • Analyzing—provide your perspective to person • Advising—provide advice to person

8. Types of Listening • Appreciative • Listen for enjoyment • Informational • Listen to learn • Critical • Listen to evaluate or analyze • Empathic • Listen to identify with speaker • Inspirational • Listen to be inspired

9. Barriers to Effective Listening • Noise • Pseudolistening and Selective Attention • Information Overload • Glazing Over (daydreaming/zoning out) • Rebuttal Tendency (argue w/other in mind) • Closed-mindedness • Competitive Interruption (way to dominate

10. Becoming a Better Appreciative Listener • Highly individualized process of obtaining sensory enjoyment through the work of others. • Seek out opportunities to listen appreciatively • Concert • Theatrical production • Walk in the park • Decide: • Enjoy the creative product without analysis; or • Research the opportunity before the experience

11. Becoming a Better Informational Listener • Goal is to understand and learn • Focus on the substance of what you are hearing: • Separate what is and isn’t said • Avoid confirmation bias • Tendency to pay attention to information that supports YOUR values and beliefs while ignoring information that doesn’t • Listen for substance more than style • Vividness effect—dramatic, shocking events may distort our perception of reality • Don’t pay attention only to delivery

12. Becoming a Better Critical Listener • Many interpersonal situations require assessing the credibility of what you are hearing: • Be a skeptic • Evaluate evidence of a claim • Evaluate a speaker’s credibility • Is speaker reliable and trustworthy? • Understand probability • Is the speaker’s claim true?

13. Becoming a Better Empathic Listener • Within our relationships, a common goal for listening is to provide empathy and support: • Listen non-judgmentally • Even if what you hear is shocking • Don’t let your surprised feelings show on your face or with your words • Acknowledge feelings • Continuer statements—phrases that identify person’s emotions and allow them to continue • Terminator statements—phrases that fail to identify to acknowledge person’s emotions and the person shuts down • Communicate support nonverbally • Eye contact is critical if you’re face-to-face, touch, facial expression, warm vocalics