Listening Exam 1

Pseudolistening

a type of non-listening that consists of appearing attentive in conversation while actually ignoring or only partially listening to the other speaker

Variables in the communication process: Communication Attitude

expectations or predispositions to respond negatively or positively you bring into things affects how efficiently we listen

Speech-thought differential

is the difference in our rate of speaking versus our rate of thinking.

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Listening is a natural habit and we don't need training to do it

it is learned and needs to be practiced

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Listening is a passive activity

it takes energy to truly listen

Listening and education

listening is the most neglected language art skill at all education levels

Variables in the communication process: Communication Skills

Ability to analyze and adapt to various communicators and communication situations -being able to encode and decode messages -using understanding verbal and nonverbal cues

Receiving: hearing process -how hearing works • Bones (malleus, Incus, stapes)

Act as levers magnifying the vibration picked up from the eardrum to mechanically stimulate the Cochlea

Receiving: hearing process -common causes of hearing impairment

Aging, noise, build up of earwax, your infections, and ruptured eardrum

Receiving: hearing process -how hearing works • cochlea

It's oval window is pushed on by the stapes to stimulate thousands of tiny hairlike cells that send an electrical signal to the brain for interpretation

Attending (within the definition of listening)

Focusing perception on selected stimuli -selective attention -energetic attention -fluctuating attention

Receiving: seeing process -how seeing works -know structures of the eye

* look to diagram and notes

Time spent in communication activities reading

-A study specifically with college students showed that listening consumes the greatest amount of time -found that within listening, mass communication takes up most of the forms of listening

Variables in the communication process: Content and Structure of Messages

-Content: ideas and point of view communicator wishes to express -Structure: arrangement of content

Variables in the communication process: Communication Knowledge

-What we know about the topic or situation -do we have knowledge about what the situational event can be or is? — The layout/people/environment

Why is listening important?

-first language skill we develop -most frequently used form of communication -plays an important role on our lives interacting with others -influences personal development -influences information management

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Listening and hearing are synonymous (same)

-hearing is a physical/biological process -listening is psychological

Variables in the communication process: Noise -external -internal physical -internal psychological

-things going on, on the outside/around us that distract us -physical things that distract us like allergies, hunger, tiredness -mental distractions such as excitement, fear, worry

Attending: fluctuating attention -Microsleep

-we can't pay attention to stimuli for a long time -we sometimes have a lack of effort in trying to pay attention Microsleep: when attention memory has a lapse and your brain temporarily shuts down as if you're sleeping for a second -Zone out in zone back in zone out in zone back in

Where do many scholars believe our failure to listen comes from?

A lack of "model "listening behavior from those we imitate like our parents

Relationship between "attending to a message" and "listening"

Attending to a message and listening are not the same thing -listening is more than just receiving attending

Attending: energetic attention -Multistore theory of memory -scanning

Attention requires effort and desire Three components of memory 1) sensory memory: messages do not stay long 2) short term memory: current conditions of a persons awareness that is limited in capacity and time 3) long-term memory: everything we have learned that has an infinite capacity Scanning: too much energy on too many stimuli

paralanguage

Nonlinguistic means of vocal expression: rate, pitch, tone, and so on that can implement meaning/emphasis/emotion to the words being spoken

Receiving: hearing process -how hearing works • Auricle (pinna)

Catches approaching sound waves and funnels them down the ear canal (Focuses specifically on frequencies of human speech)

Receiving: hearing process -Common noises and decibel levels • Decibel • view chart -hertz

DB: amount of pressure put on an eardrum hearing a sound -measure of frequency usually one cycle per second -associated with threshold of hearing--the range we can hear sounds

Variables in the communication process: Language Code and Symbolism -denotative meaning -connotative meaning

Decoding language -The literal or dictionary definition of a word -emotional meaning of a word — very individualized; everyone reacts differently to certain words

Variables in the communication process

Factors that facilitate or diminish outcomes of communication

Mass media: Katz's two-step flow of communication

Ideas flow from the mass media to opinion leaders and from those leaders to the community

The books definition of listening

Listening is the process of receiving, attending, and assigning meaning to aural and visual stimuli

Receiving: hearing process -how hearing works • cilia

Little hairs in the ear canal

Receiving: seeing process -Common causes of vision impairment • Macular Degeneration • Glaucoma • Cataracts • Computer vision syndrome

Macular degeneration -Direct cause is unknown -deterioration at the center of the retina leads to progressive vision loss Glaucoma -fluid pressure in the eye Cataracts -clouding of the lens -develops slowly Computer vision syndrome -not permanent - fatigue, headaches, neck/back aches, sore/itchy eyes

Mass media: multi step process

Mass media influencing info that flows in with all people at some point, in some relationship, on some subjects will probably influence that flow

Attending: selective attention -Kahneham Model -Attention is focused due to... -neural overload

Model -approach his attention as something that we have a limited capacity of -points out that her attention can be changed moment to moment, but we have to choose what to focus on Attention maybe focus due to: 1) unconscious/automatic rules we have 2) conscious decisions 3) how difficult the information can be Neural overload: trying to pay attention to too many stimuli at once

Learning listening skills-role models: -Parents -Partner -Friends

Parents: -varies between mother and father (on average more with mother) Partner: -gender differences contribute to listening challenges --learn to listen in different styles Friends: -according to the book: may be the closest thing we have to true listeners --with family we feel obligated to listen, but friendship is voluntary

Receiving (within the definition of listening)

Physical process of getting the message -seeing process -hearing process

Where do we learn our listening skills?

Role Models: parents, partners, friends Professional: teachers, police, healthcare providers, counselors, business

Know the listening model -stimulus -listening cone -feedback cone -outgoing stimulus

Stimulus -aural: verbal/vocal/non linguistic data -visual Listening cone -shape: (wide-narrow) interpretations are limited by perceptual filters meaning that we take in a message and it gets filtered and becomes more narrow -receiving, attending, and assigning meaning must be included for listening to take place -circle = remembering and responding Feedback cone -shape: (narrow-wide) we receive a specific message but it can be interpreted in many different ways -dotted line = don't always have an overt response -includes perceptual filters Going stimulus -don't always have overt stimulus

Receiving: hearing process -how hearing works • ear drum (Tympanic membrane)

Vibrates and engages the tiny bones malleus, incus, and stapes as sound waves reach the end of the canal

Variables in the communication process: Channel Selection

What is our channel selection preference? -phone/text, email, face to face -depends on the situation, person, relationship, conversation, etc.

Assigning meaning: schema theory -what it is -how we use it and how it may fail

What it is -We carry schemada/knowledge in our brains and this knowledge consist of nodes (concepts/events/objects) and links (Relationship of nodes) How we use it -anytime we have new information, we run it through that current schemata to help understand it How it may fail -listeners goal is to attach the perceived meaning to the senders meaning, but sometimes... • two people don't have the same schemada • Frame of reference/perceptual filters may be different • emotional triggers • Limited knowledge

Assigning meaning

When we interpret/understand a stimuli

Variables in the communication process: Frame of Reference -perceptual filters

all of the background in life experiences we bring into a communication event -how we receive stimuli, send messages, and relate to the world around us — serves as your screen through which we process the simulates we are receiving

Masking

the existence of background noise or other types of interference while a person is trying to to hear

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Listening=agreement

the verbal and non-verbal ques while listening aren't symbols of agreement

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Reading and listening are the same process

there are similarities in: receiving and decoding messages, using language, same cognitive process, etc. different in: physically, time element, private versus social, message structure

Variables in the communication process: Environment (physical setting)

where is the communication taking place? -language/expression will all be different depending on the environment

Common Listening Misunderstandings: Listening is dependent upon intelligence

you don't have to be intelligent to be a good listener