Chapter 6 Review

• Listening is an active and complex process. The first step of listening is receiving, which involves “seeing” or hearing the communication of others.

• A critical part of active listening is attending to information by being alert to it. To improve your attention skills, you should limit multitasking, control factors that impede attention, and practice mental bracketing.

• Understanding the meaning of others’ communication requires us to compare information in our short-term memory and long-term memory, using prior knowledge to evaluate the meaning of new information.

• Active listening requires responding to the communication of others in clear and constructive ways. Indications of effective responding include positive feedback and the use of back-channel cues. Paraphrasing can also help you convey understanding, but if you use it extensively during face-to-face encounters, your partners may find it annoying.

• Listening effectiveness is often measured in terms of our recalling ability.

• Even during a single interpersonal encounter, you will likely have multiple purposes for listening, known as listening functions.

• The five functions are listening to comprehend, listening to discern, listening to analyze, listening to appreciate, and listening to support.

• Most people have one or two dominant listening styles. The four most common styles are people-, action-, content-, and time-oriented listening. Both gender and culture impact listening styles.

• Selective listening is a natural result of fluctuating attention.

• Eavesdropping is an especially destructive form of listening and can have serious consequences.

• If you use pseudo-listening deliberately to deceive others, you’re behaving unethically.

• Some people use aggressive listening to attack others.

• People who engage in narcissistic listening seek to turn the focus of the conversation back to themselves.