Different Listening Styles

The Act of Listening

The act of receiving, comprehending, recalling, evaluating, and responding to verbal and nonverbal messages is referred to as listening. Even while it might seem easy, listening deeply is more complicated than most people realize. Most of the time, individuals mix up hearing and listening. Listening is a physical as well as a psychological process while hearing is a physical one.

Types of Listening Strategies

The listening strategy to be used depends on the type of message. Empathetic, comprehensive, appreciative, critical, and faux listening are the main types. Empathetic listening is making an emotional connection with others. Understanding the message being communicated is necessary for thorough listening. Lastly, pseudo listening entails playacting to listen to the speaker and not absorbing the message. I closely identify with empathetic listening more as opposed to the other listening styles. I tend to listen to my friends as they speak about their predicaments, empathize with them and offer consolation. Gender has affected my listening style to some extent. Being a female, I communicate feelings to my friends often. Females feel comfortable being intimate with their friends. As opposed to female’s men communicate more in public places, and they rarely establish eye contact with the speaker. Females can talk about a single topic at length while the male switch to various issues. When communicating the female normally agree or support the speaker. Contrary, the men tend to debate more in their communication. Apart from gender, other factors influence the listening style. For instance, biases towards the speaker can hinder listening. Besides, environmental factors such as temperature and noise can hinder listening. Limited attention also affects listening.

Conclusion

Listening plays a significant role in our lives. Good listeners tend to express their opinions fully. Hence they communicate effectively with other people. The listening style employed depends on the type of message conveyed. Conclusively, listening is not only physical but also psychological.

References

Brownell, J. (2015). Listening: Attitudes, principles, and skills. Routledge.