Chapter 6

Listening

Chapter Outcomes

• Outline the listening process and styles of listening

• List the advantages of listening well• Identify challenges to good listening

and their remedies• Identify ethical factors in the

listening process• Describe how contexts affect

listening

How We Listen

•Hearing– Physiological, involuntary

process of perceiving sound• Listening

– Multidimensional process of recognizing, understanding, and accurately interpreting and responding effectively to the messages you hear

The Listening Process

•Three specific components– Affective component refers to

your attitude toward listening to a person or message

– Cognitive component requires• Selecting• Attending• Understanding

The Listening Process (cont.)

–Behavioral component requires

• Remembering

• Responding

The Listening Process (cont.)

• Active listening – Requires active participation in

making choices about selecting, attending, and so on

• Passive listening – Means failing to make active choices

• Listening fidelity– How well the listener’s thoughts

match those of the message producer

Personal Listening Preferences

• People-oriented listeners

– Listen with relationships in mind

•Action-oriented listeners

– Focus on tasks

Personal Listening Preferences (cont.)

• Content-oriented listeners

– Evaluate what they hear

• Time-oriented listeners

– Consider efficiency most of all

The Value of Listening Well

• Listening well:

– Helps your career

– Saves you time and money

– Creates opportunities

– Strengthens relationships

– Accomplishes your goals

Why We Listen

• Informational (comprehensive) listening

– Seeking to understand a message

•Critical (evaluative) listening

– Making a judgment about a message

– Using critical thinking to determine key points, focus efforts, decode nonverbal cues, use memory

Why We Listen (cont.)

• Empathic listening

– Feeling how another person feels

– Using openness, sensitivity, caring, nonverbal immediacy behaviors, and paraphrasing

•Appreciative listening

– Taking pleasure in sounds

Listening Challenges

• Listening barriers

– Factors that interfere with our ability to comprehend information and respond appropriately

Listening Challenges (cont.)

• Environmental factors include– Loud noise, unpleasant

temperatures, visual distractions, large groups

•Hearing and processing challenges include– Physical or medical issues related

to age or physical condition

Listening Challenges (cont.)

• Multitasking – Impairs our ability to focus on any one

thing

• Boredom and overexcitement– Distract effective listening

• Attitudes about listening– Belief that talking is more powerful– Overconfidence and laziness– Listening (receiver) apprehension

The Ethics of Listening

•Unethical listening behaviors– Defensive listening involves

responding with aggression without fully listening.

– Selective listening zeros in on bits of interesting information.

– Insensitive listening means listening only to words, not to emotional content.

The Ethics of Listening (cont.)

•Unethical listening behaviors (cont.)

– Self-absorbed means hearing only the information related to your own goals• Monopolistic listening• Attacking• Ambushing

– Pseudolistening means pretending to listen by nodding or saying “uh-huh.”

Listening in Context

•Relational and situational contexts

•Cultural context•Technological

context