Publication year
2014
Citation Title
The relative effectiveness of active listening in initial interactions.
Journal Name
The International Journal of Listening
Journal Volume
28
Issue Number
1
Page Numbers
13-31
DOI
10.1080/10904018.2013.813234
Summary
Active listening is an important communication skill, which has implications in the quality of interactions among individuals. The study examined how different types of responses (e.g., active listening, simple acknowledgement, and giving advice) can affect individual perception of listeners' attentiveness, comprehension, and sociability. Results indicated that active listening was associated with high conversational satisfaction, perceived understanding, and perception of social attractiveness of the listener.
Key Findings
Participants who received active listening tended to feel more understood and had higher satisfaction with their conversation than participants who received simple acknowledgement and advice.
Participants who received active listening or advice rated the listener as more socially attractive in comparison to the participants who received simple acknowledgement.
There was no difference in the conversational satisfaction reported by participants who received active listening and those who received advice.
Implications for Military Professionals
Collaborate with other professionals in the field (e.g., mental health services providers) about ways to facilitate program activities that provide opportunities for healthier interaction among children and youth
Attend trainings to enhance positive communication skills such as addressing issues directly and taking another person’s perspective
Implications for Program Leaders
Incorporate active listening activities and role-playing into curriculum
Educate children and families about the different types of listening and communication styles that foster healthy communication and supportive relationships
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage development and support for research programs that promote healthy relationships in children, youth, and families through effective communication
Continue to support programs that provide recreational activities to children, youth, and families
Methods
Data were collected from undergraduate students in three experimental conditions. In the active listening condition, listeners paraphrased the participant’s message and, when appropriate, asked for further elaboration. In the simple acknowledgement condition, listeners mainly provided back-channel cues (e.g., head nods). In the advice condition, listeners gave advice to the participant (e.g., suggesting activities to engage in).
Participants' satisfaction with the listener was assessed using the Interpersonal Communication Satisfaction Inventory, social attractiveness of listener was assessed by McCroskey and Richmond's social attractiveness scale, and the belief about how much the listener understood the participant was assessed by the Feelings of Understanding/Misunderstanding Scale.
Multiple comparisons were done to investigate if active listening, simple acknowledgement, and giving advice produced different interaction rewards (e.g., perceived social attractiveness of listener).
Participants
The sample consisted of 115 undergraduate students, of which 70.9% of students were female.
The age range of participants was from 18 to 50 years. The average age was 20.01 years (SD = 4.37).
Participants identified as 67% White, 18% Latino, 5.2% Asian-American, 3.5% Black, 2.6% Caribbean, and 3.5% chose "other" or "prefer not to say."
Limitations
The study did not explore listener's nonverbal communication as a variable (such as body posture, gestures, and etc.) and the effects it had on the participants perception of an active listener, which limits the understanding of the interactions.
Participants were enrolled in the introductory communication course, and may differ from the general population in ways that may affect the results and were not examined in the study.
Participants and listeners only had one interaction and it is unclear if perception of the listeners' social attractiveness, perceived understanding, and attentiveness would be consistent across multiple interactions.
Avenues for Future Research
Explore how different nonverbal communications (such as gestures and posture) combined with active listening can affect the perception of speakers' comprehensiveness and social attractiveness
Examine how differences in personal characteristics of listener (e.g., age or gender) affect the quality of interaction
Examine how multiple interactions with the listener affects rated sociability, comprehension, and attentiveness over time
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Although active listening is considered an important communication skill in a variety of occupational and therapeutic fields, few experiments compare dyadic partners' perceptions of active listening with other types of listening responses. This study involves 115 participants engaged in interactions with 10 confederates trained to respond with active listening messages, advice, or simple acknowledgements. Results indicate that participants who received active listening responses felt more understood than participants who received either advice or simple acknowledgements. Further, participants who received either active listening responses or advice were more satisfied with their conversation and perceived the confederate to be more socially attractive than participants who received simple acknowledgements, although the effect sizes for these differences were small. Conversational satisfaction and social attractiveness did not differ between participants receiving active listening responses and participants receiving advice, however.
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