Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear. The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts, strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.

When interacting, people often are not listening attentively. They may be distracted, thinking about other things, or thinking about what they are going to say next (the latter case is particularly true in conflict situations or disagreements). Active listening is a structured way of listening and responding to others, focusing attention on the speaker. Suspending one's own frame of reference, suspending judgment and avoiding other internal mental activities are important to fully attend

Attention

Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....

 to the speaker.

Primary elements

There are three primary elements that comprise active listening: comprehending, retaining, and responding.

Comprehending

Comprehension is "shared meaning between parties in a communication transaction". This is the first step in the listening process. The first challenge for the listener is accurately identifying speech sounds and understanding and synthesizing these sounds as words. We are constantly bombarded with auditory stimuli, so the listener has to select which of those stimuli are speech sounds and choose to pay attention to the appropriate sounds (attending). The second challenge is being able to discern breaks between discernable words, or speech segmentation. This becomes significantly more difficult with an unfamiliar language because the speech sounds blend together into a continuous cluster. Determining the context and meanings of each word is essential to comprehending a sentence.

Retaining

This is the second step in the listening process. Memory is essential to the listening process because the information we retain when involved in the listening process is how we create meaning from words. We depend on our memory to fill in the blanks when we're listening. Because everyone has different memories, the speaker and the listener may attach different meanings to the same statement. However, our memories are fallible and we can't remember everything that we've ever listened to. There are many reasons why we forget some information that we've received. The first is cramming. When you cram there is a lot of information entered into your short term memory. Shortly after cramming, when you don't need the information anymore, it is purged from your brain before it can be transferred into your long term memory. The second reason is that you aren't paying attention when you receive the information. Alternatively, when you receive the information you may not attach importance to it, so it loses its meaning. A fourth reason is at the time the information was received you lacked motivation to listen carefully to better remember it. Using information immediately after receiving it enhances information retention and lessens the forgetting curve (the rate at which we no longer retain information in our memory). Retention is lessened when we engage in mindless listening, where little effort is made to listen to a speaker's message. Mindful listening is active listening.

Responding

Listening is an interaction between speaker and listener. It adds action to a normally passive process. The speaker looks for verbal and nonverbal responses from the listener to determine if the message is being listened to. Usually the response is nonverbal because if the response is verbal the speaker/listener roles are reversed so the listener becomes the speaker and is no longer listening. Based on the response the speaker should either adjust or continue with his/her communication style.

Tactics

It is important for a listener to observe the speaker's behavior

Behavior

Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...

 and body language

Body language

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....

. Having the ability to interpret a person's body language lets the listener develop a more accurate understanding of the speaker's message. When the listener does not respond to the speaker's nonverbal language, (s)he engages in a content-only response which ignores the emotions that guide the message. Having heard, the listener may then paraphrase

Paraphrase

Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...

 the speaker's words. It is important to note that the listener is not necessarily agreeing with the speaker—simply stating what was said. In emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

ally charged communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

s, the listener may listen for feeling

Feeling

Feeling is the nominalization of the verb to feel. The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of touch through either experience or perception. The word is also used to describe experiences, other than the physical sensation of touch, such as "a feeling of...

s. Thus, rather than merely repeating what the speaker has said, the active listener might describe the underlying emotion ("You seem to feel angry," or "You seem to feel frustrated, is that because ... ?").

Individuals in conflict often contradict each other. This has the effect of denying the validity of the other person's position. Ambushing occurs when we listen to someone else’s argument for its weaknesses and ignore its strengths. The purpose is to attack the speaker’s position and support your own. This may include a distortion of the speaker’s argument to gain a competitive advantage. Either party may react defensively

Self-defense

Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...

, and they may lash out or withdraw. On the other hand, if one finds that the other party understands, an atmosphere of cooperation

Cooperation

Cooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...

 can be created. This increases the possibility of collaborating and resolving the conflict.

In the book Leader Effectiveness Training, Thomas Gordon

Thomas Gordon (psychologist)

Dr. Thomas Gordon was an American clinical psychologist, colleague of Carl Rogers. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in teaching communication skills and conflict resolution methods to parents, teachers, leaders, women, youth and salespeople...

, who coined the term "active listening," states "Active listening is certainly not complex. Listeners need only restate, in their own language, their impression of the expression of the sender. ... Still, learning to do Active Listening well is a rather difficult task ..."

A four-step process (termed "Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent communication

Nonviolent Communication is a communication process developed by Marshall Rosenberg beginning in the 1960s. NVC often functions as a conflict resolution process...

" or "NVC")—conceived by Marshall Rosenberg

Marshall Rosenberg

Marshall Rosenberg is an American psychologist and the creator of Nonviolent Communication, a communication process that helps people to exchange the information necessary to resolve conflicts and differences peacefully...

—can help facilitate active listening. "When we focus on clarifying what is being observed, felt, and needed [and requested] rather than on diagnosing and judging, we discover the depth of our own compassion. Through its emphasis on deep listening—to ourselves as well as others—NVC fosters respect, attentiveness, and empathy, and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart." Rosenberg further clarifies the intricacy of perception and adaptiveness of what he calls "deep listening" by saying, "While I conveniently refer to NVC as a 'process' or 'language,' it is possible to express all four pieces of the model without uttering a single word. The essence of NVC is to be found in our consciousness of these four components, not in the actual words that are exchanged." Suzanne Jones sees a substantive difference between active listening as originated by Gordon

Thomas Gordon (psychologist)

Dr. Thomas Gordon was an American clinical psychologist, colleague of Carl Rogers. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in teaching communication skills and conflict resolution methods to parents, teachers, leaders, women, youth and salespeople...

 and empathic listening as recommended by Rosenberg, insofar as active listening involves a specific step of reflecting what a speaker said to let them know you are listening, whereas empathic listening involves an ongoing process of listening with both heart and mind and being fully present to the other's experience, with an aim of comprehending and empathizing with the needs of the other, the meaning of the experience for that person.

Use

Active listening is used in a wide variety of situations, including public interest advocacy, community organizing, tutoring, medical workers talking to patients, HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 counseling, helping suicidal persons, management, counseling and journalistic settings. In groups it may aid in reaching consensus

Consensus decision-making

Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...

. It may also be used in casual conversation to build understanding, though this can be interpreted as condescending.
A listener can use several degrees of active listening, each resulting in a different quality of communication. The active listening chart below shows the three main degrees of listening: repeating, paraphrasing and reflecting.

The benefits of active listening include getting people to open up, avoiding misunderstandings, resolving conflict, and building trust

Trust (sociology)

In a social context, trust has several connotations. Definitions of trust typically refer to a situation characterised by the following aspects: One party is willing to rely on the actions of another party ; the situation is directed to the future. In addition, the trustor abandons control over...

. In a medical context, benefits may include increased patient satisfaction, improved cross-cultural communication, improved outcomes, or decreased litigation.

Active listening can be lifted by the active listening observation scale.

Barriers to active listening

All elements of communication, including listening, may be affected by barriers that can impede the flow of conversation. Such barriers include distractions, trigger words, vocabulary, and limited attention span.

Listening barriers may be psychological (e.g. emotions) or physical (e.g. noise and visual distraction). Cultural differences including speakers' accents, vocabulary, and misunderstandings due to cultural assumptions often obstruct the listening process.

Frequently, the listener's personal interpretations, attitudes, biases, and prejudices lead to ineffective communication.

Shift response

The first of these is the shift response which is the general tendency in a conversation to affix the attention to you. There is competition between individuals for attention and a focus on self by shifting the topic; it is a me-oriented technique. The listener shifts from a passive position, receiver, to an active role, sender. This is a type of conversational narcissism; the tendency of listeners to turn the topic of conversations to themselves without showing sustained interest in other's listening. With conversational narcissism there is a tendency to overuse the shift response and underuse the support response. A support response is the opposite of a shift response; it is an attention giving method and a cooperative effort to focus the conversational attention on the other person. Instead of being me-oriented like shift response, it is we-oriented. It is the response most likely to be used by a competent communicator

Competitive interrupting

Interrupting is what happens when one person stops speaking because another person starts speaking. Competitive interrupting is "when we dominate the conversation by seizing the floor from others who are speaking". Both the original speaker and the interrupter fight for control of the conversation. This is similar to a shift response and can be used in the same way. However, a shift response follows the rule that one person speaks at a time while in competitive interrupting you don’t wait for the other person to finish talking. Also, with shift responses the topic usually changes while with competitive interrupting the interrupter may make a point that is on topic. Interrupting may create an environment of hostility and rivalry. In general, competent communicators try to avoid interrupting in their conversation. However, there are noncompetitive reasons for interrupting such as a show of support or enthusiasm, or asking for clarification.

Glazing over/pseudolistening

Glazing over occurs when the listener’s attention wanders from the speaker’s message and they begin to daydream. The listener does not even pretend to listen to the speaker’s message. In general the brain processes words faster than people can speak, so a competent communicator will use the difference between the rate of speaking and processing to think about the conveyed message. Pseudolistening on the other hand is pretend listening; the listener uses the ‘polite listening face’ but nothing really registers. However, competent listening requires focused attention. We don’t remember what we haven’t focused our attention on.

Stage hogging

This is when talking is seen to be more valuable than listening by the speaker. The speaker does not allow for listening as a personal communication style.

Overcoming listening barriers

To use the active listening technique to improve interpersonal communication, one puts personal emotions aside during the conversation, asks questions and paraphrases back to the speaker to clarify understanding, and one also tries to overcome all types of environment distractions. Don't judge or argue prematurely. Furthermore, the listener considers the speaker's background, both cultural and personal, to benefit as much as possible from the communication process. Eye contact and appropriate body languages are also helpful. It is important to focus on what the speaker is saying; at times you might come across certain key words which will certainly help you understand the speaker. The stress and intonation will also keep you active and away from distractions. Taking notes on the message will aid in retention.

Misconceptions about listening

There are several misconceptions about listening. The first of these is listening and hearing are the same thing. Hearing is the physiological process of registering sound waves as they hit the eardrum. We have no control over what we hear. The sounds we hear have no meaning until we give them their meaning in context. Listening on the other hand is an active process that constructs meaning from both verbal and nonverbal messages. It involves a lot of interpretation by the listener to reconstruct a message that is like the one that the speaker intended to send. The second is that listening is a natural process. However, we have been hearing since birth, not listening. Listening is a skill that is acquired over a lifetime. The third misconception is listening requires no effort; as a mental skill - not dissimilar from learning long division - listening requires practice and attention. Much of this effort occurs in childhood during language development and continues as an individual's comprehension of interpersonal interactions increases. Like any skill, the more you practice listening the better you get at it and the three steps that comprise it.

See also

• Informational listening
  Informational listening
  The process of informational listening focuses on the ability of an individual to understand a speaker’s message. It is a huge part of everyday life, and failing to understand the concept of informational listening can be very detrimental to one's contribution to society, and indeed, detrimental...
  
  
• Reflective listening
  Reflective listening
  Reflective listening is a communication strategy involving two key steps: seeking to understand a speaker's idea, then offering the idea back to the speaker, to confirm the idea has been understood correctly. It attempts to "reconstruct what the client is thinking and feeling and to relay this...
  
  
• Workplace listening
  Workplace listening
  Workplace listening is a type of active listening that is generally employed in a professional environment. Listening skills are imperative for career success, organizational effectiveness, and worker satisfaction. Workplace listening includes understanding the listening process Workplace listening...
  
  
• Appreciative listening
  Appreciative listening
  Appreciative listening, is a type of listening where the listener seeks certain information which will appreciate, for example that which helps meet his/her needs and goals...
  
  

External links

• Listening is powerful medicine, National Public Radio, February 2009
• Active Listening International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict: Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA
• Empathic listening skills How to listen so others feel heard, or listening first aid (University of California). Download a one hour seminar on empathic listening and attending skills.
• Exercise 4 – Active Listening, Center for Rural Studies, University of Vermont, Montpelier
• Active listening: A communication tool
• Homepage of the International Listening Association The professional organization whose members are dedicated to learning more about the impact that listening has on all human activity