Andreea Stefan
Comm 1010- Section 20
Interpersonal Theme Paper
Listening more effectively-Page.66
According to the textbook, there are two levels of listening; mindless and mindful.
Mindless listening refers to a person not fully listening to the whole message that the speaker
wants to get across. A mindless listener tends to “react to others’ messages automatically and
routinely, without much mental investment” (Adler-Elmhorst, pg. 66). Mindful listening is when
we pay close attention to what the speaker has to say before we respond. I like to think about it
as “Think before you speak”.
I can think of two people that are good example for both of these two types of listening
levels, my husband, and my dad. My dad is more of a mindful listener. He is very attentive when
it comes to listening to someone speak. He also clarifies things to make sure he understood
correctly what the senders’ message was. Now if I am going to be one hundred percent honest,
then I will mention that there are times where he does interrupt, but I blame the age for that. He
just wants to make sure he doesn’t lose his idea if he has something to say about the senders’
message while talking about a certain subject.
But like I said, it rarely happens. Now my husband on the other side, well he is more of a
mindless listener. He tends to speak freely and can react pretty quickly to a sender’s message
even when the person is not even done talking. This always happens when we have
conversations or even when I am simply to trying to get a message across. This tends to be a
problem because before I am done speaking, he might understand something totally different and
then it can lead to problems. So I have learned that every time he interrupts me, I just stop the
whole conversation. This is starting to work on him realizing that if he stops, I will not finish
what I have to say, and he always wants me to finish because he can be a curious cat.
Disabilities-Page.37
Coming from a country where you rarely see anybody with a disability working, I was
amazed when I walked into Wal-Mart to see employees with disabilities. Later I learned that
“ The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 guarantees that people with disabilities receive
reasonable accommodations and equal access to employment, buildings, transportation, and
services” (Adler-Elmhorst, pg.37). This is one of the things that I love about this country. I love
seeing that even though people may have a disability they still have an equal right. They can still
make money and support themselves and their families.
I had a Biology teacher once who is blind. I think it is amazing that they get the same
opportunities as any other healthy person. I work at a little European market and one day the
phone rings and a customer was on the phone and asked me to come outside. I thought to myself
“who does this guy think he is?” When I went outside, I noticed he was in a van at the driver’s
side sitting in a wheelchair. Later I found out from my boss that he is paralyzed and his son was
recently paralyzed to. He asked me if I could get some items from the store for him and then
handed me his debit card. I was more than glad to help him and later he tells me, “You are so
nice, I have never met anyone to be so nice when it comes to helping me”. Although he may
have a disability, I still talk, laugh, joke, and communicate with him just as I would with any
other person. I never want to make him feel “different” from me. When I read chapter two on the
topic about disabilities, I related to this topic a lot because of the story described above.
Channel Characteristics- Page.11
There are three types of channel characteristics, richness, speed, and control. Richness is
the types of information which is available when using a certain channel. When you are having a
face to face conversation with someone, or even using some kind of video chat, that would be
considered richness. You are able to actually see the person’s facial expressions, body language,
and even connect those with their tone of voice. As far as the speed goes, there is synchronous
communication, and asynchronous communication.
Synchronous communication happens fast, like in a face to face conversation where you
are able to give or receive feedback right away. Asynchronous communication is the opposite,
such as giving or receiving feedback through an E-mail, or a voicemail. Control is the way you
can manage the process of communication. For example, I have more control of what is going to
be written in this assignment. I can write a draft, edit it, and then make a final draft before I turn
it in. But I won’t know for sure whether the teacher reads it or is interested in it at all. As with
face to face communication, I would have more control over the audience and who is listening to
what I have to say, but not so much as to the speech I would be giving.
As a personal experience, my channel richness lets the other person know what kind of
mood I am in, especially when I am frustrated or mad. My body language changes
instantaneously, and when I respond to anything, my tone of voice is what says it all. As with the
speed, I have to say I am about 50-50 when it comes to asynchronous and synchronous
communication. It all depends on the situation whether I want to get the message across faster
such as calling the person, or maybe I can write them a text message and choose my words
carefully.
Barriers to Effective Listening –Page.62
Environmental barriers can be a distracting thing when it comes to listening. “Not all
environmental barriers are about sound. An overheated office or uncomfortable chairs also make
listening difficult” (Adler-Elmhorst, pg. 62). The textbook mentions that we can avoid
environmental barriers by choosing to move to a different room for example, or switching out the
squeaky chair. My question is, can we really make it that comfortable for us? In one of my
classes, I guess you could say there are environmental barriers.
For example, there are students that talk during a professor’s lecture which makes it hard
for me to pay attention. Another person always chews their gum with their mouth open and pops
bubbles. So how is this really avoidable? If I choose to leave the room, then I will miss the
professor’s lecture for that day, if I choose to confront the people, then I will be the “bad guy”.
My opinion is that sometimes there is not much you can do except for try and tune the barriers
out. As a college student, this is something I need to work on especially when changing
classrooms and fellow classmates every hour.
If I learn to tune the environmental barriers out, then I will not be so focused on how
annoyed I am, and I can focus more on what the professor has to say. There is also preoccupation
that falls under psychological barriers (Adler-Elmhorst, pg.63). Preoccupation is when you can’t
fully focus on the present because you are either thinking about something that happened in the
past or will happen in the near future. I can be sitting in class with my full attention to the
professor and all of a sudden I catch myself thinking of the basket of laundry I left unfinished at
home, the exam coming up, or wondering if I locked the door when I left the house. This causes
me to miss some pretty important information that is mentioned in class. As much as I try to
focus on the present only, it always happens that I have to snap myself back. Thanks to
technology these days, I am able to record all of the lectures in class and later go back and listen
to them in case I missed anything.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ronald B. Adler, Jeanne Marquardt Elmhorst. Comm 1010 Salt Lake Community College,
Communicating at work. McGraw-Hill, 2013.