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Listening Differences: Culture and Gender 67

Summary of Concepts and Skills Study and Review materials for this chapter are
at MyCommunicationLab

Listen to the Audio Chapter Summary 1. I recognize that listening serves a variety of pur-
at MyCommunicationLab poses, and I adjust my listening on the basis of my
purposes: for example, to learn, relate, influence,
This chapter discussed the ways you listen and how you can play, or help.
listen more effectively. 2. I realize that listening is a multistage process, and
Stages of Listening I regulate my listening behavior as appropriate in
receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluat-
1. Listening is crucial to success in a wide range of professions ing, and responding.
and in personal relationships. 3. When receiving messages I seek to increase my
2. Listening may be defined as “the process of receiving, con- chances of effective listening by, for example, paying
structing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or attention to the speaker’s verbal and nonverbal mes-
nonverbal messages.” sages; avoiding distractions; and focusing on what the
3. Listening serves a variety of purposes: You listen to learn; speaker is saying, not on what I’m going to say next.
to relate to others; to influence the attitudes, beliefs, and 4. I facilitate understanding in listening by relating
behaviors of others; to play; and to help. Listening is a new information to what I already know and trying
five-step process consisting of receiving, understanding, to see the messages from the speaker’s point of view.
remembering, evaluating, and responding. 5. In remembering the speaker’s messages, I try to
4. Both listener and speaker share in the responsibility for identify the central ideas and the major support-
effective listening. ing materials, summarize the main ideas, and
repeat important concepts to etch them more
Listening Barriers firmly in my mind.
5. Among the obstacles to effective listening are physical and 6. In evaluating messages, I first make sure I under-
mental distractions, biases and prejudices, lack of appropri- stand the speaker’s point of view and seek to iden-
ate focus, and premature judgment. tify any sources of bias or self-interest.
7. In responding, I am supportive of the speaker and
Styles of Effective Listening own my own thoughts and feelings.
6. Effective listening involves a process of making adjustments— 8. I am mindful of the common listening obstacles
depending on the situation—along dimensions such as (i.e., distractions, biases, lack of focus, and prema-
empathic and objective listening, nonjudgmental and ture judgment) and try to reduce their effects.
critical listening, surface and depth listening, polite and 9. I am especially careful to adjust my listening on
impolite listening, and active and inactive listening. the basis of the immediate situation between

Listening Differences: Culture and Gender empathic and objective, nonjudgmental and
critical, surface and depth, polite and impolite,
7. Culture influences listening in a variety of ways. Contribut- and active and inactive listening.
ing to listening difficulties are cultural differences in lan- 10. I practice active listening when appropriate by
guage and speech, nonverbal behaviors, and feedback. paraphrasing the speaker’s meaning, expressing
8. Men and women listen differently and perhaps for different my understanding of the speaker’s feelings, and
reasons. For example, women give more messages that say, asking questions.
“I’m listening” than men. According to some theorists, 11. I recognize the influence of culture on listening
women use listening to show empathy and to build and cultural differences in listening and take these
rapport, and men minimize listening because it puts them into consideration when listening in intercultural
in a subordinate position. situations.
Throughout this discussion of listening, a variety of skills 12. I recognize gender differences in listening and
were identified. Place a check mark next to those skills that take these into consideration when communicat-
you feel you need to work on most. ing with members of the opposite sex.