Our Human Communication Reflections: STAGES OF LISTENING

Listening in Interpersonal Communication
Reviewing

This chapter focused on the nature of listening, the influence of culture and gender on listening, and the dimensions of listening that you need to consider for effective listening.

Stages of Listening
What is listening? What purposes does listening serve?

Listening is an active process of receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding to communications.

Listening enables you (1) to learn, to acquire information; (2) to relate, to help form and maintain relationships; (3) to influence, to have an effect on the attitudes and behaviors of others; (4) to play, to enjoy oneself; and (5) to help, to assist others.

Styles of Listening
What are your listening options?

Empathic-objective listening refers to the extent to which you focus on feeling what the speaker is feeling.

Nonjudgmental-critical listening refers to the extent to which you accept and support the speaker.

Surface-depth listening refers to the extent to which you focus on the obvious surface meanings.

Active-inactive listening refers to the extent to which you reflect back on what you think the speaker means in content and feeling.

Culture, Gender, and Listening
How is listening influenced by culture and gender?

Members of different cultures vary on a number of communication dimensions that influence listening: speech and language, nonverbal behavioral differences, and preferences for direct and indirect styles of communication.

Men and women may listen differently; generally, women give more specific listening cues to show they're listening than do men.