Is Anybody Listening, I Mean Really Listening?
             "I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen." Ernest Hemingway. Often when a misunderstanding occurs, it is attributed to a lack of communication, which most of the time implies that whoever was delivering the message did not do an effective job. But what about the other side, the listener?
             Listening is important. It is the communication skill most often used in human interaction. Between 45 and 55 percent of people's communication time will be spent in listening to others (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor, p. 56). As our textbooks tell us, listening is not a skill that most people perform well.
             It is difficult to define listening. We could say that it is a receiver orientation to the communication process, since communication involves both a source and a receiver, listening consists of roles receivers play in the communication process. "Listening is a process that includes attending, perceiving, interpreting, assessing, and responding" (Barker and Gaut, p. 47).
             Our own listening habits have been developed since we were born. Such habits are so well established that we perform them without thinking. Unfortunately, such habits are usually undesirable and lead to poor listening.
             There are a number of reasons for ineffective listening. They do not apply equally to all listeners and the degree to which they do apply will vary from different situation, speaker, and topic. But, I think, they represent common and important reasons for ineffective listening.
             Rehearsing - your whole attention is designing and preparing "what to say next." You look interested, but your mind is miles away because you are thinking about the next comment.
             Judging - negatively labeling people can be lead to trouble. Everyone has biases, but it leads to ineffective listening. Let's say you hear a speaker discuss an idea that you do not ...