IS ANYBODY LISTENING?

What is listening? Lis-ten-ing n (1996, International Listening Association): “the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages.”

HABITS OF THE WORST LISTENERS Call the subject uninteresting Criticize the speaker’s delivery Get overstimulated Listen only for facts Take no notes or note everything

WORST HABITS, CONTINUED Fake attentionFake attention Get distractedGet distracted Avoid difficult listening materialAvoid difficult listening material Let emotions block the messageLet emotions block the message Waste the time-thought advantageWaste the time-thought advantage

TIME-THOUGHT ADVANTAGE We listen badly because we are able to think so fast--750 words/min. versus speeches given at 175 words/min. Our minds wander. Use the time advantage to 1. Try to guess the speaker’s next point. 2. Identify the supporting evidence supplied. 3. Engage in a mental recap approx. every 4 minutes to reinforce learning/memory.

BEST HABITS OF THE BEST LISTENERS Search, sift, sort, and store information Concentrate on the message being delivered Get the main ideas Pay attention to the speaker Obtain the principles and ideas and write them down.

BEST HABITS, CONTINUED Recognize and control emotions Exercise their listening muscles. Eliminate distractions Take advantage of the time- thought differential

A MODEL FOR LISTENING HURIER BEHAVIORAL MODEL (Brownell, 1985, 1986) Hearing--focusing on and attending to the message Understanding--obtaining the literal message meaning Remembering--recalling the message for future action

HURIER MODEL HURIER MODEL, CON’T. Interpreting--expressing sensitivity to contextual and nonverbal message aspects Evaluating--logic applied to the assessment of the message value Responding--choosing an appropriate response to what is heard

A FINAL THOUGHT “The principle of listening, someone has said, is to develop a big ear rather than a big mouth.”--Howard G. and Jeanne Hendricks