Listening
Chapter 3
Listening: A CHOICE
• Hearing comes naturally. We all HEAR.
• Listening is a learned social skill. You have to
DECIDE to do it.
 Brainstorm:
 1 time when you were hearing someone but not
listening to them
 1 time when you forced yourself to actually listen
even though you really didn’t want to
 1 time when someone called you out on not listening
to him or her
The Listening Process: 5 Steps
• 1: Hearing—you select some sounds to focus on
and tune out others.
• 2: Interpreting—you decode the signals and
understand the sensory input (making sense of
what you hear based on what you already know)
Fact: you can process almost 3 times more words per minute than
people speak.
• 3: Evaluating—you judge the worth or
importance of something (figuring out the
speakers intent based on fact & opinion).
The Listening Process: 5 Steps
(Cont.)
• 4: Remembering—NOT objective. You remember
what you understood based on what you perceived
from what was said.
• 5: Responding—you react to the speaker by sending
cues. The listener sends feedback to the speaker to
clarify what was heard or to take part in the
conversation.
• PRACTICE—take 5 minutes to tell your neighbor
what you did this weekend. When it is your turn to
listen, record your thought process for each of the 5
steps of listening.
Recipe for Listening: 5 Ingredients
• It is important to listen for ALL 5 of the following
elements when having a conversation with someone
in order to fully understand him or her.
• 1: Information—facts or instructions
• 2: Emotion—determine what mindset the speaker
has. Are they insecure or nervous?
• 3: Attitude—distinguish fact from opinion
• 4: Goals and Hidden Agendas—there may be
messages that are not expressed directly
• 5: Thoughts, Ideas, and Opinions—pay attention to
omissions and nonverbal symbols, these will reveal
opinions
Interview Critique: Picking out the Ingredients
• Information: What is the interviewee telling you?
• Emotion: Is he or she happy? Sad? Angry? Upset?
WHY?
• Attitude: What are the facts? What is his or her
position?
• Goals and Hidden Agendas: Is there a theme going
on behind the words?
• Thoughts, Ideas, and Opinions: What verbal and
nonverbal symbols does the interviewee use to
express him or herself?
ACTIVITY: Watch Interviews
• George W. Bush & Kanye West
▫ Evaluate the interview for the 5 ingredients in the
recipe for listening.
Listening Barriers: 4 Types
• 1: External Barriers—environmental hindrances
to listening
▫ Noises—can overpower message
▫ Other Stimuli—other senses reacting to events
▫ Information Overload—we tune out when there is
too much coming at us
• 2: Listener Barriers—psychological blocks to
effective listening
▫ Boredom
▫ Laziness
▫ Waiting to speak
*Opinionatedness
*Prejudice
*Lack of interest
Listening Barriers: 4 Types
(Cont.)
• 3: Speaker Barriers—obstacles to listening that
originate with the speaker
▫ Appearance
▫ Manner
▫ Power
*Credibility—believability
*Message
• 4: Cultural Barriers—learned responses that
predispose one to see things a particular way
▫ Prejudice
▫ Speaking style
▫ Source credibility
*Nonverbal communication
*Accents
ACTIVITY: Identifying Listener Barriers
• List 7 examples of situations when you have
been affected by listener barriers (list examples
from home, school, work, and social situations).
• Classify each situation as one or more of the six
listener barriers.
▫ Boredom, laziness, waiting to speak,
opinionatedness, prejudice, lack of interest
• Where did most listener barriers occur? Which
types were most common?
Types of Listening: 3 Types
• 1: Active Listening—listening for meaning
• 2: Informational Listening—listening for content
and attempting to identify the speaker’s purpose,
main ideas, and supporting details
• 3: Critical Listening—examining information or
persuasive messages and drawing conclusions
SAY
WHAT?!
ACTIVITY!
• Brainstorm 2 different places or situations you
may use or have used each type of listening.
▫ (2) Active Listening
▫ (2) Informational Listening
▫ (2) Critical Listening
• Be prepared to share at least one example with
the class and justify why it is that type of
listening. (HINT: refer back to your definitions!)
(1) Active Listening: In-depth
• There are two types of active listening.
▫ 1: Emphatic Listening– listening to discern
another person’s feelings and emotions
 You attempt to feel the speaker’s feelings and to
share his or her mood.
▫ 2: Creative Listening– receiving another’s ideas
but using them to generate one’s own creative
ideas
 You use creative listening in brainstorming sessions
by building off of other’s ideas.
(1) Active Listening Process: 5 Steps
• 1: Find and organize the speaker’s main ideas.
▫ Use logic!
• 2: Mentally summarize what the speaker is saying.
▫ Put a message into your own words!
• 3: Echo the speaker’s meaning.
▫ Repeat what you think you heard!
• 4: Echo the speaker’s expressed or implied feelings
▫ Watch your perceptions!
• 5: Ask questions to receive further clarification.
▫ Show interest and support!
(1) ACTIVITY!
Active listening in tough conversations
• Role-Play:
▫ Speaker—
 BE DIFFICULT! BE A PAIN!
▫ Listener—
 Attempt to actively listen and empathize/sympathize
with the speaker.
 Pay attention to emotions and ideas.
▫ Observers—
 Is the active listener being successful in picking up
on the emotions and concerns of the speaker?
(2) Informational Listening: In-depth
• When informational listening is important:
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Classroom settings
Work training sessions
Receiving directions
Traveling
Interviews
• How to improve understanding when practicing
informational listening:
▫ Take good notes!
(2) Informational Listening: ACTIVITY
• When your informational listening skills FAIL
you:
▫ Brainstorm at least 3 times in your life when you
have failed in the informational listening
department. What did you do to fix it?
▫ Turn & Talk: share your fails with your neighbor
and compare your situations.
(3) Critical Listening: In-depth
• Pay attention to the following 5 areas when listening
critically:
▫ 1: Source Credibility– who is speaking, and how
believable is he or she?
▫ 2: Attitude—is the speaker respectful or condescending
to the listener?
▫ 3: Speaker’s Goal—why is the speaker trying to
persuade me? Is he or she repeating anything?
▫ 4: Content—What is the main idea? What evidence is
presented? Is the conclusion logical?
▫ 5: Reasoning—are the ideas presented well-supported?
(3) Critical Listening: Faulty Reasoning
• Inductive Reasoning: identifying facts and
linking them together to support a specific
conclusion
• Logical Fallacies: false methods of reasoning
(3) Critical Listening:
7 Common Logical Fallacies
• 1: Begging the Question: speakers assume the
truth or falsity of a statement without supplying
proof.
• 2: Card Stacking: speakers select only the
evidence and arguments for the side that they
support.
• 3: False Premises: speakers begin with false
assumptions that are assumed to be true.
• 4: Glittering Generalities: speakers use vague or
general words or phrases that express an
attitude or idea that has popular support.
(3) Critical Listening:
7 Common Logical Fallacies
• 5: False Generalizations: speakers don’t have
enough evidence to support a broad conclusion,
or they selectively leave out details and come to a
quick conclusion.
• 6: Non Sequitur: speakers assert something that
doesn’t follow logically or that deals with a
completely different subject.
• 7: Testimonial: speakers use an authority or a
well-known person to endorse a particular
subject or position to gain the listener’s
approval.
ACTVITY! Research.
• Research one of the 7 common logical fallacies.
• In your presentation to the class you will…
▫ present the definition (same or reworded)
▫ present at least one example that you found
 each person must talk at least once
(3) Critical Listening:
7 Propaganda Techniques
•Propaganda: a form of
persuasion that discourages
listeners from making an
independent choice by stating
opinions as though they are
accepted truths.
(3) Critical Listening:
7 Propaganda Techniques
• 1: Transfer: makes an illogical connection between
unrelated things
• 2: Bandwagon: encourages listeners to join a group
that favors a particular person, product, or idea
because it is popular
• 3: Name Calling: uses a negative term to refer to a
group or an idea without providing evidence or
proof
• 4: Loaded Words: uses language that evokes strong
feelings and attitudes in the listener to sway an
argument
(3) Critical Listening:
7 Propaganda Techniques
• 5: Emotional Appeals: assumes that the listener
shares the emotional responses of the speaker
• 6: Stereotypes: applies preconceived notions to a
person based on his or her membership in a
group
• 7: Either/Or: poses arguments between two
opposite choices, failing to take into account
other possibilities