Relationship Between Listening and Interpersonal Communication
The Power of Listening
For this assignment, you will write about the relationship between listening and interpersonal communication.
Using the Unit 6 Assignment Template, please address the following:
Define listening.
Explain the listening types (informational, critical, and empathic) and stages of listening.
Discuss the key differences between hearing and listening. Be sure to provide an example of how hearing and listening impact interpersonal communication.
Discuss at least two barriers to listening. Be sure to include how these barriers impact interpersonal communication.
Identify three verbal cues and three nonverbal cues that demonstrate to others that you are listening.
Writing Requirements and Assignment Guidelines
Your assignment should be a 2-3-page expository essay, not including the Title and Reference pages, and should include the following elements:
Title page
Body
Reference Page: Sources in APA format
Use Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced
A minimum of two scholarly references
Use APA Formatting and Citation style
The assignment must be written in Standard English and demonstrate superior organization, including a highly developed viewpoint and purpose. The communication of your thoughts must be highly ordered, logical, and unified, displaying exceptional content, organization, style, and mechanics (including the use of correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure).
This assignment is worth 100 points. The rubric that will be used to grade your assignment is available from the Grading Rubrics page under Course Resources.
This assignment addresses the following unit learning outcomes:
Identify the stages of the listening process.
Identify the differences between hearing and listening.
Identify barriers to listening.
Discuss the 3 types of listening.
Identify strategies for listening during all stages of the listening process.
Examine ways to improve listening competence in any context.
Discuss the impact of listening styles on how we listen.
The Power of Listening
First/Last Name
University
CM206 - Unit 6 Assignment
Date
Listening is defined as various approaches that shape interactions, such as analysis, empathy, and information sharing. In interpersonal communication, listening is actively taking in, processing, and making sense of another person's words and body language (Solomon & Theiss, 2022). An often-overlooked aspect of human interaction, attentive listening, goes beyond passive hearing to actively seek understanding, foster trust, and open a channel for genuine conversation.
Informational, critical, and empathic listening are the three main types of listening, which are all essential to communication (Westmaas, 2022). Understanding and remembering information is a top priority in many professional and educational settings, making informational listening a crucial skill. However, decision-making situations frequently call for critical listening, which entails assessing the content for reliability and relevance. In addition, empathetic listening is a relationship-building skill that prioritizes picking up on the speaker's emotional cues. The steps of listening are: receiving (perceiving sound), decoding (understanding the meaning of the message), remembering (storing the information), evaluating (judging the quality of the content), and responding (giving one's opinion). Although, each component is essential to the final product: complete comprehension and appropriate action.
Hearing is a passive physiological process involving the reception of sound waves, whereas listening constitutes an active cognitive activity, including the reception, processing, and assessment of the information being conveyed. Despite their frequent synonymy, the two terms have essential conceptual differences. For example, when Steve Jobs and the team first introduced the Macintosh to Apple's board, they were met with scepticism. It could be argued that the board's preexisting biases about Apple's future prevented them from hearing the presentation in a way that would allow them to appreciate the game-changing potential of the Macintosh fully (Binns, O'Reilly & Tushman, 2022). Therefore, their response highlighted the gap between passively receiving and actively processing information. A person's ability to hear versus listen is a critical factor in the health of their personal and professional relation...