Unit 6 Assignment interpersonal communication

The Power of Listening First/Last Name Purdue University Global CM206 - Unit 6 Assignment Date Introduction The power of listening is an area that is often underappreciated, yet it makes significant differences at home, work, and school, among others. Social workers and psychologists are among the few professionals who value the power of listening. A student may perform better than a fellow schoolmate because of better listening skills. Similarly, a marriage may last longer or forever because the partners are good listeners. This paper will delineate how listening is central to interpersonal communication by discussing listening types and stages, differences between listening and hearing, and barriers and cues in listening. Listening Listening is the process of actively receiving, comprehending, interpreting, and responding to non-verbal and verbal messages from the speaker. This means that one has to hear and understand the meaning of words, as well as the context and perspective of the speaker. There are three types of listening: critical, informational, and empathic. Critical listening involves assessing the information's credibility, validity, and logic. In informational listening, the audience has to understand specific information by being attentive to details, asking for clarification, and taking notes when necessary. Empathic listening requires the audience to understand and connect with the speaker on an emotional level. Moreover, there are five stages of listening (Bennetch, 2023). The receiving stage is focused on being attentive to verbal messages, the understanding stage involves interpreting the message's meaning, the evaluating stage requires the listener to assess the message critically, the remembering stage allows the audience to categorize and retain the information, and the r...