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Chapter 7: Listening:More Than Meets the Ear

Presentation prepared byDr. Michael Pearson, Gretchen Gill, and Tim Scanlonof West Chester University

PowerPoint Presentation to accompanyLooking Out, Looking In, Tenth Edition

For permission to use material from this text, contact us by:

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CHAPTER 7

Listening:Listening:

More Than Meetsthe Ear More Than Meetsthe Ear

Listening:Listening:

More Than Meets the Ear More Than Meets the Ear

• Elements in the Listening Process

• Types of Ineffective listening

• Why We Don’t Listen Better

• InformationalListening

• Listening toHelp

• Gender andListening

Elements in the ListeningProcess

Hearing

• Listening - is a process that consists of five elements: hearing, attending, understanding, responding, and remembering

• Hearing - the physiologicaldimension of listening

Attending

• Attending - the process of filtering out some messages

and focusing on others

Elements in the ListeningProcess

Understanding

• Understanding - occurs when we make sense of a

message

Responding

• Responding - giving observable feedback to the speaker

Remembering

• Remembering - the ability to recall information

Gender and Listening

Social Influences

• Western culture defines different

roles for men and women.

• When men and women deviate from

expectations dictated by their social

roles, the results can be problematic.

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Biological Influences

• A recent study demonstrated

physiological differences in brain

activity between men and women

during listening.

Types Of Ineffective Listening

Pseudolistening

• Pseudolistening - an imitation of real listening; listener gives appearance of being attentive

Stage-hogging

• Stage-hogging - try to turn the topic of conversations to

themselves instead of showing interest in the speaker

Selective Listening

• Selective Listening - respond only to the parts of your

remarks that interest them, rejecting everything else

Types Of Ineffective Listening

Insulated Listening

• Insulated listeners - instead of looking for something, these people avoid it

Defensive Listening

• Defensive listeners - take others’ remarks as personal

attacks

Types Of Ineffective Listening

Ambushing

• Ambushing - listen carefully to you, but only to collect

information to attack what you say

Insensitive Listening

• Insensitive listeners - are not able to look beyond the

words and behavior to understand their hidden meanings

Why We Don’t Listen Better

Message Overload

• The amount of speech most of us encounter every day

makes careful listening to everything we hear

impossible.

Preoccupation

• When one is wrapped up in personal concerns that are

more important than the messages others are sending

Rapid Thought

• A person’s brain can process more information than

he/she can speak, therefore leading to “spare time.”

Effort

• Listening effectively is hard work.

External Noise

• The physical world in which we live often presents

distractions from the speaker.

Rapid Thought

• Sometimes a person’s listening ability suffers from a

physiological hearing problem.

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Why We Don’t Listen Better

Faulty Assumptions

• Often we make incorrect assumptions that lead us to believe we’re listening attentively when quite the opposite is true.

Lack of Apparent Advantages

• It often appears that we have more to gain by speaking

than by listening.

Why We Don’t Listen Better

Lack of Training

• Even if we want to listen well, we are often hampered

by a lack of training.

Media Influences

• The trend of short segmented programming in our

media discourages the kind of focused attention that

is necessary for careful listening.

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Why We Don’t Listen Better

Informational Listening

• Talk Less

• Get Rid of Distractions

• Don’t Judge Prematurely

• Look for Key Ideas

• Ask Questions

• Paraphrase

Informational Listening

Ask Questions

• Sincere questions - aimed at understanding others

• Counterfeit questions – aimed at sending a message,

not receiving one

• Types of Counterfeit Questions

• Questions that trap the speaker

• Questions that make statements

• Questions that carry hidden agendas

• Questions that seek “correct” answers

• Questions based on unchecked assumptions

Informational Listening

Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing/Active listening - statements that reword

the listener’s interpretation of a message

• Types of Paraphrasing Statements

• Change the speaker’s wording

• Offer an example of what you think the speaker

is talking about

• Reflect the underlying theme of the speaker’s

remarks

Listening to Help

Advising

Advising response - to help by offering a solution

Judging

• Judging response - evaluates the sender’s thoughts or

behaviors in some way

Analyzing

• Analyzing statement - the listener offers an

interpretation of a speaker’s message

Listening to Help

Questioning

• Questioning response - helps others think about their

problems and understand them more clearly

The best questioning follows these principles:

• Don’t ask questions just to satisfy your own curiosity.

• Be sure that your questions won’t confuse or distract

the person you’re trying to help.

• Don’t use questions to disguise your suggestions or

criticism.

Listening to Help

Supporting

• Supportive response - reveal a listener’s solidarity with

the speaker’s situation

• Deny others the right to their feelings.

• What effective support doesn’t sound like:

• Minimize the significance of the situation.

• Focus on “then and there” rather than “here and now.”

• Cast judgment.

• Types of support include: agreement, offers to help,

praise, reassurance, and diversion.

• Rain on the speaker’s parade.

• Defend yourself.

Listening to Help

Prompting

• Prompting - using silences and brief statements of

encouragement to draw others to speak of their problems

Paraphrasing

• Factors to consider before deciding to paraphrase:

• Is the problem complex enough?

• Do you have the necessary time and concern?

• Are you genuinely interested in helping?

• Can you withhold judgment?

• Is your paraphrasing in proportion to other

responses?

Listening to Help

When and How to Help ?

• Three factors used to choose a helping style:

• Consider the situation

• Think about the other person

• Think about yourself