User:CanyonMoon44/Active listening

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Active listening is the practice of preparing to listen, observing what verbal and non-verbal messages are being sent, and then providing appropriate feedback for the sake of showing attentiveness to the message being presented. This form of listening conveys a mutual understanding between speaker and listener. Speakers receive confirmation their point is coming across and listeners absorb more content and understanding by being engaged. '''The overall goal of active listening is to eliminate any misunderstandings and establish clear communication of thoughts and ideas between the speaker and listener (cite Active or Reflective Listening). It may also be referred to as Reflective Listening. (cite same source again).  Active listening was introduced by Carl Rogers and Richard Farson. '''

save this source: Andersen, J. (2008). Developing active listening skills: can you hear me now? how effective communication will enhance your career. IDEA Fitness Journal, 5(5), 85+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A179387654/AONE?u=nysl_me_pace&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=534fa182

Worthington, D. L., & Bodie, G. D. (2017). Sourcebook of listening methodology and measurement. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=4983445.

Hoppe, M. H., & Hoppe, M. H. (2007). Active listening : Improve your ability to listen and lead, first edition : improve your ability to listen and lead. Center for Creative Leadership.

Rogers, Carl R., and Richard E. Farson. "Active listening." Chicago, IL (1957).

Active or Reflective Listening. (2015). In M. H. Ferrara & M. P. LaMeau (Eds.), Life and Career Skills Series Vol. 4. Social Skills (pp. 54-59). Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3627000019/GVRL?u=nysl_me_pace&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=51eae7fd

History
Carl Rogers and Richard Farson coined the term "active listening" in 1957 in a paper of the same title (reprinted in 1987 in the volume Communicating in Business Today). Practicing active listening also emphasized Rogers' (1980) concept of three facilitative conditions for effective counseling; empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard. Rogers and Farson write: "Active listening is an important way to bring about changes in people. Despite the popular notion that listening is a passive approach, clinical and research evidence clearly shows that sensitive listening is a most effective agent for individual personality change and group development. Listening brings about changes in peoples' attitudes toward themselves and others; it also brings about changes in their basic values and personal philosophy. People who have been listened to in this new and special way become more emotionally mature, more open to their experiences, less defensive, more democratic, and less authoritarian."

Assessment
Active listening can be assessed using the Active Listening Observation Scale (ALOS). '''Note: I think I am going to remove this from the article. After doing further research, this was developed to understand the frequency of active listening among patients and physicians during consultations and does not really apply to active listening in general.'''

Barriers to Active Listening
There are a multitude of factors that may impede upon someone's ability to listen with purpose and intention; these factors are referred to as listening blocks. Some examples of these blocks include rehearsing, filtering, and advising. Rehearsing is when the listener is more focused on preparing their response rather than listening. Filtering is when a listener focuses only on what they expect to hear, while tuning out other aspects of what is being said, and lastly, advising is when the listener focuses on problem solving, which can create a sense of pressure to fix what the other person is doing wrong. There are three types of barriers to effective listening: Environmental, Physiological, and Psychological.

Environmental Barriers
Environmental barriers are brought about by the speakers environment. Some examples include noises, smells, bad cell reception, and any other factors that make it difficult to hear and process information. Sometimes it is due to the language the speaker uses—such as high sounding and bombastic words that can lead to ambiguity. Other barriers include distractions, trigger words, vocabulary, and limited attention span. Environmental barriers likely can not be eliminated but they can be managed.

Physiological Barriers
'''Physiological barriers are those that are brought about by the listener's body. They can be temporary or permanent. Hearing loss and deficiencies are usually permanent boundaries. Temporary physiological barriers include headaches, earaches,''' hunger or fatigue of the listener. '''Another physiological boundary is the difference between the slow rate of most speech and the brain's ability to process that information. Typically, the brain can process around 500 words per minute while the average rate of speech for speakers is 125 words per minute. This difference make it easy for the mind to wander'''.

Psychological Barriers
Psychological barriers interfere with one's willingness and mental capacity for listening. Pre-existing biases can lead to listening to someone else's argument for its weaknesses, ignoring its strengths. This can lead to a competitive advantage in a political debate, or by a journalist to provoke a strong response from an interviewee, and is known as "ambushing". Individuals in conflict often blindly contradict each other. On the other hand, if one finds that the other party understands, an atmosphere of cooperation can be created.

Shift response
"Shift response is the general tendency of a speaker in a conversation to affix attention to their position." This is a type of conversational narcissism—the tendency of listeners to turn the topic to themselves without showing sustained interest in others. 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 a competent communicator is most likely to use.

Understanding of non-verbal cues
Ineffective listeners are unaware of non-verbal cues, though they dramatically affect how people listen. To a certain extent, it is also a perceptual barrier. Up to 93 percent of people's attitudes are formed by non-verbal cues. This should help one to avoid undue influence from non-verbal communication.[clarification needed] In most cases, the listener does not understand the non-verbal cues the speaker uses. A person may show fingers to emphasize a point,[clarification needed] but this may be perceived as an intent by the speaker to place their fingers in the listener's eyes. Overuse of non-verbal cues also creates distortion, and as a result listeners may be confused and forget the correct meaning.