chap 5 essay

Describe the five steps of the listening process.

Active listening requires flexibility and determining the primary purpose for listening at any given moment. A third of people use only one listening style in every listening situation they encounter. Since different listening styles are judged as inappropriate for certain situations, it's important to match the purpose of your listening with the listening style that complements it.

How can adapting your listening style be used to improve active listening?

Listening involves a series of interrelated steps: (1) receiving, or hearing and seeing, the communications of others; (2) attending to the information in an active and alert manner; (3) understanding the meaning of the communication; (4) responding constructively to the communication using feedback and back-channel cues; and (5) recalling, or remembering, the communication.

Explain the relationship between gender and listening styles.

Listening styles are habitual patterns of listening behaviors that reflect attitudes, beliefs, and predispositions about the listening process. Women tend to use people- and content-oriented listening styles more and in general take a relational approach to listening. Men, on the other hand, tend to use time- and action-oriented styles and take a task-oriented approach to listening.

Explain the concept of incompetent listening and provide five examples of ways it hinders effective interpersonal communication.

Incompetent listening occurs when we fail to identify the right purpose for listening or neglect to use the appropriate listening style. Selective listening refers to receiving only the most salient pieces of information during the communication process and dismissing the rest. Eavesdropping occurs when we intentionally listen in on another person's private communication. Pseudo-listening occurs when we pretend we're paying attention to our communication partner when we're really not. Aggressive listening involves attending to another's communication with the sole purpose of disparaging it; online people who listen aggressively are called provocateurs. Finally, narcissistic listening is the practice of continually reflecting a conversation back on oneself and behaving badly when it goes another way.