Listening in Interpersonal

Communication

Presented By:
Muhammad Husnain (8389)
Zarmeen Karimi (10202)
Syed Arif Ali Shah (7922)
Waqas Zahid (7112)

Presented To:
 What is Listening?

 Listening : the process of receiving, constructing

meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or
nonverbal messages; to hear something with
thoughtful attention
 Effective communication is 2-way
 depends on speaking and listening
When you have ears, you can hear everything within
hearing range; but that doesn’t necessarily mean you
understand what you heard. Listening, on the other
hand, is a skill.
 Listening V/S Hearing

Hearing- physical process; natural; passive

Listening- physical & mental process; active;

learned process; a skill

Listening is hard!
You must choose to participate in the
process of listening.
What is listening?

 Listening…. the psychological process of receiving,

attending to, constructing meaning from, and
responding to spoken or nonverbal messages

 Hearing = physiological
 Listening = psychological
Importance of listening

 85% of what we know is from listening

 45%of our time is spent on listening
 A person recalls 50%of what they just heard
 ….only 20%of it is remembered long term
Why Be A Good Listener?

 To be recognized and remembered

 To feel valued
 To feel appreciated
 To feel respected
 To feel understood
 To feel comfortable about a want or need
Listening is the most powerful
form of acknowledgment

…a way of saying, “You are

important.”
Listening promotes being heard

‘Seek first to understand, then

be understood’
- Stephen Covey
PROCESS OF LISTENING

Understanding
Learning

Remembering
Receiving
Recalling
Hearing

Responding Evaluating
Answering Judging
 Receiving
 It refers to the response caused by sound waves
stimulating the sensory receptors of the ear; it is
physical response.

Understanding
 It is the stage at which you learn what the speaker
means-the thoughts and emotional tone.
 Remembering
 It is important listening process because it means
that an individual has not only received and
interpreted a message but has also added it to the
mind's storage bank.
 But just as our attention is selective, so too is our
memory- what is remembered may be quite different
from what was originally seen or heard.
Activity:

BED DREAM COMFORT

REST AWAKE SOUND
WAKE NIGHT SLUMBER
TIRED EAT SNORE
 Evaluating

 It consists of judging the messages in some way. At

times, you may try to evaluate the speaker’s
underlying intentions or motives.
 Often this evaluation process goes on without much
conscious awareness.
Responding
 This stage requires that the receiver complete the
process through verbal and/or nonverbal feedback;
because the speaker has no other way to determine if
a message has been received .
 This stage becomes the only overt means by which
STYLES OF EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Syed Arif Ali Shah (7922)

NO ONE WOULD TALK MUCH IN
SOCIETY IF THEY KNEW HOW
OFTEN THEY MISUNDERSTOOD
OTHERS.
(GOETHE)
 STYLES OF EFFECTIVE LISTENING

 Participatory-Passive listening

 Empathic-Objective listening

 Non judgmental- Critical listening

 Surface-Depth listening

 Active-Inactive listening
Participatory-Passive listening

 Active participation
 Physically & mentally engage in the sharing
of meaning

Elements
Non-Verbal: Eye contact, facial expressions
Verbal: questions, back channeling cues such
as “I see” “yes” “uh-huh” etc
Participatory-Passive listening

 Listening without talking

 Powerful means of communicating
acceptance

 Passive listener: suspends judgment and

just listens
 Who accepts, not evaluate. Who supports,
not intrude
Empathic-Objective listening

 To listen empathically
 Feel with them
 See the world as they see
 Feel what they feel

 It helps you understand what a person

means & what the person is feeling
Empathic-Objective listening

 Listen with objectivity and detachment

 See beyond other person sees

Example: A teacher & student

 (Empathic) (1+1 = 11)
 (Objective) (1+1 = 2)
Non judgmental- Critical listening

 Listen with open mind

 Avoid distorting messages
 Avoid filtering out unpleasant or
undesirable message

 Recognize your own ethnic, national, or

religious biases, (it may increase or minimize
importance because it confirms or
contradicts your biases)
Non judgmental- Critical listening

 Name calling- involves giving an idea

e.g. (“atheist” “neo-Nazi” “cult”) to make you accept things you
value high, like (“democracy” “free speech” “academic freedom”)

 Testimonial- use image associated to with person to gain

approval, (if you respect the person) to gain rejection (if you
disrespect the person)
e.g. advertisement: use person dressed like doctors, use phrase
“dentists advice”

 Bandwagon- used to persuade to accept or reject an idea

because “everybody is doing it”
e.g. “draw Mohammad day” & “switch to Pakbuk”
Surface-Depth listening

 Obvious/surface/literal meaning

 (Surface level communication)

 What they are saying?

Surface-Depth listening

 Hidden, deep meaning

 (In depth communication)

 Why they are saying?

 E.g.: “The patient is very serious”

Purpose of Active listening

“Active, effective listening is a habit, as well

as the foundation of effective
communication.”
ACTIVE LIETENING

 “Active listening is the process of sending back the

speaker what the listener thinks the speaker meant.”

 It is a process of putting into some meaningful whole

your understanding of the speaker’s total message
Continued…

 Example:
ESMAIL: that creep gave me a c on the paper!! I really
worked on that project and all I get is a lousy C!
AYESHA: that’s not so bad; most people got around
the same grade. I got a C too.
FAISAL: So what? This is your last semester. Who
cares about grades anyway?
SAAD: You got a C on the paper you were working for
the last three weeks? You sound really angry and
hurt.
 Purpose:

Active listening serves a number of important purposes:

 It shows that you are listening.

 Check how accurately you have understood what the
speaker said and meant.
 Express acceptance of speaker’s feelings.
 To prompt the speaker to further explore his or her
feelings or thoughts.
“TECHNIQUES OF EFFECTIVE
LISTENING”

Active listening intentionally focuses on who

you are listening to, whether in a group or
one-on-one, in order to understand what he or
she is saying. 
Techniques:

 Paraphrase the speaker’s meaning.

 Express understanding of the speaker’s feeling.
 Ask questions to ensure that you are on a right track.
 Focus your attention on the subject
 Avoid distractions
 Set aside your prejudices, your opinions.
 When interacting with the speaker, keep an eye
contact and do not argue.
 Quick flashback

 Listening and hearing are two different entities.

 The listening process requires five pre-requisites if it

has to be listening.

 Cultural differences and gender differences play an

important role in the listening process.

 The general key to effective listening in interpersonal

situations is ‘’Active participation”.
Contd..

 We need to listen empathically to make sure that we

understand what the speaker is actually going
through.

 Effective listening involves listening non-judgmentally

to help you understand and help you critically.
That completes our agenda for the day.
Hope you have enjoyed.
THANK-YOU