Types of Listening

Biased listening

Taking in only what the listener agrees to.

Appreciative listening

Taking in anything that appeals to the listener's sense of beauty.

Sympathetic listening

Knowing what the speaker feels.

Empathic listening

Understanding what the speaker feels.

Therapeutic listening

Doing something about the speaker's feelings.

Dialogic listening

Learning through conversations with a speaker, a two-way process.

Relationship listening

Getting the trust of the speaker.

Discriminative listening

Identifying sound differences.

Comprehension listening

Making sense of what is heard.

Critical listening

Identifying truths from fallacies.

Evaluative listening

Choosing a stand after critical listening.

Informative listening

Listening to learn something new, a one-way process.

Active listening

Listening is an active skill and must be developed.

Positive habits

Stop talking, control your surroundings, keep an open mind, listen for the main points, provide feedback, capitalize on lag time, listen between the lines, judge ideas and not appearances, hold your fire, take selective notes.

Irritating listening behaviors

Interrupting the speaker, not looking at the speaker, rushing the speaker, showing interest in something other than the conversation, finishing the speaker's thoughts, not responding to the speaker's requests, saying "yes, but...", topping the speaker's story, forgetting what we talked about previously, asking too many questions about details.

Four stages of the listening process

Receiving, perceiving, interpreting, responding.

Benefits of listening

Better able to help others, understand things on a deeper level, understand more about different cultures, have more resources to make more informed, rational decisions, have the tools to avoid conflicts and reduce problems, participate in life more because you know more, become a more effective leader.