Chapter 5

Responding

Speakers respond nonverbal during a message using back-channel cues and verbally after a message using paraphrasing and clarifying questions.

becoming a better contextual listener

Understanding the role that listening plays in professional, relational, cultural, and gendered contexts can help us more competently apply these skills.

Evaluating

we try to determine the degree to which we believe a speaker's statements are correct and/or true

Action-oriented

well-organized, precise, and accurate information. They can become frustrated with they perceive communication to be unorganized or inconsistent, or a speaker to be "long-winded."

Recalling

Our ability to recall information is dependent on some of the physiological limits of how memory works

Giving formal feedback to yourself

The key to effective self-evaluation is to identify strengths and weaknesses, to evaluate yourself within the context of the task, and to set concrete goals for future performance. What follows are guidelines that I give my students for self-evaluation of their speeches.

Note-taking

Translating information through writing into our own cognitive structures and schemata allows us to better interpret and assimilate information.

Aggressive listening

a bad listening practice in which people pay attention in order to attack something that a speaker says.

Discriminative listening

a focused and usually instrumental type of listening that is primarily physiological and occurs mostly at the receiving stage of the listening process

Narcissistic listening

a form of self-centered and self-absorbed listening in which listeners try to make the interaction about them

Becoming a better empathetic listener

a listener becomes actively and emotionally involved in an interaction in such a way that it is conscious on the part of the listener and perceived by the speaker.

Content-oriented

analytic and enjoy processing complex messages. They like in-depth information and like to learn about multiple sides of a topic or hear multiple perspectives on an issue. Their thoroughness can be difficult to manage if there are time constraints.

Giving formal feedback to others

be specific, be descriptive, be positive, be constructive, be realistic, and be relevant

Pseudo- Listening

behaving as if you're paying attention to a speaker when you're actually not

Reference previous points

being able to summarize what someone said to ensure that the topic has been satisfactorily covered and understood or being able to segue in such a way that validates what the previous speaker said helps regulate conversational flow

listening in relational contexts

central role in establishing and maintaining our relationships(self-disclosure)

people-oriented

concerned about the needs and feelings of others and may get distracted from a specific task or the content of a message in order to address feelings.

Time-oriented

concerned with completing tasks and achieving goals. They do not like information perceived as irrelevant and like to stick to a timeline. They may cut people off and make quick decisions (taking short cuts or cutting corners) when they think they have enough information.

Difference between speech and thought rate

connects to personal barriers to listening, as personal concerns are often the focus of competing thoughts that can take us away from listening and challenge our ability to concentrate on others' messages

Listening types

discriminative, informational, critical, and empathetic

Cognitive barriers to listening

effective listening that may be present in the environment or emanate from our bodies, cognitive limits, a lack of listening preparation, difficult or disorganized messages, and prejudices can interfere with listening

Bad Listening practices

interrupting, distorted listening, eavesdropping, aggressive listening, narcissistic listening, and pseudo-listening

Environmental and physical barriers to listening

lighting, temperature, and furniture affect our ability to listen

critical listening

listening with the goal of analyzing or evaluating a message based on information presented verbally and information that can be inferred from context

informational listening

listening with the goal of comprehending and retaining information

Bad message and/or speakers

message construction, poorly structured messages or messages that are too vague, too jargon filled, or too simple can present listening difficulties. In terms of speakers' delivery, verbal fillers, monotone voices, distracting movements, or a disheveled appearance can inhibit our ability to cognitively process a message.

Interrupting

misread cues and overlapping

strategies of active listening

must work to maintain focus as much as possible and refocus when attention shifts or fades

Physiological noise

noise stemming from a physical illness, injury, or bodily stress

Physcohological noise

noise stemming from our psychological states including moods and level of arousal, can facilitate or impede listening

Empathetic listening

occurs when we try to understand or experience what a speaker is thinking or feeling

Creating listenable messages

orally delivered messages that are tailored to be comprehended by a listener

Response preparation

our tendency to rehearse what we are going to say next while a speaker is still talking

Listening and Gender

people communicate in ways that conform to gender stereotypes in some situations and not in others, which shows that our communication is more influenced by societal expectations than by innate or gendered "hard-wiring."

Listenings styles

people-oriented, action-oriented, content-oriented, and time-oriented listeners

Eye Contact

signal of attentiveness. While a lack of eye contact may indicate inattentiveness, it can also signal cognitive processing

Becoming a better critical listener

skills include distinguishing between facts and inferences, evaluating supporting evidence, discovering your own biases, and listening beyond the message

Lack of listening preparation

some people think listening skills just develop over time, competent listening is difficult, and enhancing listening skills takes concerted effort

high-context communication

style comes from nonverbal and contextual cues.

low-context communication

style is one in which much of the meaning generated within an interaction comes from the verbal communication used rather than nonverbal or contextual cues

Prejudice

we are usually trying to preserve our ways of thinking and avoid being convinced of something different

Interpreting

we combine the visual and auditory information we receive and try to make meaning out of that information using schemata

Recieving

we process incoming feedback and new messages through auditory and visual channels

Listening

the learned process of receiving, interpreting, recalling, evaluating, and responding to verbal and nonverbal messages

Active listening

the process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cognitive listening practices

multi-tasking and listening

the use of multiple forms of media at the same time, and it can have positive and negative effects on listening. (may promote inefficiency, because it can lead to distractions and plays a prominent role for many in procrastination)(give people a sense of control, as they use multiple technologies to access various points of information to solve a problem or complete a task)

Purpose of listening

to focus on messages sent by other people or noises coming from our surroundings; to better our understanding of other people's communication; to critically evaluate other people's messages; to monitor nonverbal signals; to indicate that we are interested or paying attention; to empathize with others and show we care for them (relational maintenance); and to engage in negotiation, dialogue, or other exchanges that result in shared understanding of or agreement on an issue.

listening in culture

varies by culture and influences how we communicate and listen.

To improve listening at the responding stage

◦ ask appropriate clarifying and follow-up questions and paraphrase information to check understanding, ◦ give feedback that is relevant to the speaker's purpose/motivation for speaking, ◦ adapt your response to the speaker and the context, and ◦ do not let the preparation and rehearsal of your response diminish earlier stages of listening.

To improve listening at the interpreting stage

◦ identify main points and supporting points; ◦ use contextual clues from the person or environment to discern additional meaning; ◦ be aware of how a relational, cultural, or situational context can influence meaning; ◦ be aware of the different meanings of silence; and ◦ note differences in tone of voice and other paralinguistic cues that influence meaning.

To improve listening at the receiving stage

◦ prepare yourself to listen, ◦ discern between intentional messages and noise, ◦ concentrate on stimuli most relevant to your listening purpose(s) or goal(s), ◦ be mindful of the selection and attention process as much as possible, ◦ pay attention to turn-taking signals so you can follow the conversational flow,and ◦ avoid interrupting someone while they are speaking in order to maintain your ability to receive stimuli and listen.

To improve listening at the evaluating stage

◦ separate facts, inferences, and judgments; ◦ be familiar with and able to identify persuasive strategies and fallacies of reasoning; ◦ assess the credibility of the speaker and the message; and ◦ be aware of your own biases and how your perceptual filters can create barriers to effective listening.

To improve listening at the recalling stage

◦ use multiple sensory channels to decode messages and make more complete memories; ◦ repeat, rephrase, and reorganize information to fit your cognitive preferences; and ◦ use mnemonic devices as a gimmick to help with recall.