Understanding
The third and most complicated element in listening is understanding, also referred to as auditing. Understanding usually refers to the process whereby we assign a meaning to the words we hear that closely corresponds to the meaning intended by the person sending the message. This process was discussed at some length in Chapter 1.
Since the process of understanding by definition requires us to associate a message with our past experiences, we also tend to accept or reject (i.e., evaluate) the message as we are trying to understand it. Dr. Carl Rogers has written that "the major barrier to mutual interpersonal communication is our very natural tendency to judge, to evaluate, to approve or disapprove, the statement of the other person, or the group" (1961, p. 330). Thus, if we can focus more of our listening effort on trying to understand the meaning that the speaker was intending to convey, temporarily withholding our tendency to judge or evaluate that message, we should considerably improve our ability to listen more effectively.
Interpreting a message is literally giving it meaning. It is based on (at the least) understanding the grammar of the language, recognizing and understanding the source's intent (sarcastic, joking, serious), understanding the implications of the situation (including the physical environment, the relationship shared with the other person, and the climate of the encounter), and sharing assumptions about the world and how it operates (what is and is not realistic).
Remembering
Most tests of listening to some extent test how much we remember of what we heard and understood. Remembering is the storing of information for later retrieval. If a person gives you directions to a particular place and you understand them but forget the directions before you can write them down, then your listening was not as useful as it might have been.
There are two types of memory—short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). Short-term memory is what allows us to remember a telephone number long enough to dial it but not well enough to recall it even five minutes later. Short-term memory is said to be able to handle about five items of information at one time. You can recognize this limitation by trying to remember several names when you are introduced to a large group at a social gathering.
Verbal material stored in STM appears to be encoded by the sound of the material rather than the sight. For example, if we see the letter Q but later mistakenly recall that letter, we are more likely to remember it as a U (which sounds similar to Q) than as an O (which looks more like a Q). Thus, the information coding and retrieval mechanism of the brain appears to be in part based on the sound of a word, probably as a result of the way we learn the names for things.
Long-term memory stores those items of information that we usually think of as being "committed" to memory (e.g., our hometown, our parents' first names). Basically the difference between STM and LTM is the amount of repetition and rehearsing that occurs with an individual item of information, and the ease with which the item fits into already stored information. Active listening is a technique for rehearsing material in the STM. It helps you remember the material longer. Thus, active listening is much like programmed learning, which assumes that learning is most effective when learners periodically test themselves on how much they are remembering, then review what they have learned.
Research summarized by Barker (1971) indicates that immediately after we hear something we remember only half. Eight hours later we remember only 35 percent, and two months later we remember 25 percent. Obviously, this assumes we were paying attention in the first place, and that the message was brief and relatively uncomplicated. The "bottom line" with respect to listening is the residual message, the kernel the listener remembers.
In this section we have looked at the four interrelated elements that constitute learning. They were (1) hearing; (2) attention; (3) understanding, or auditing; and (4) remembering. In the next section we will discuss different types of listening.
TYPES OF LISTENING
If you were to list some of the typical reasons why you listen to others, what would they be? Probably any list would include at least four types of listening. These four are not mutually exclusive or exhaustive but merely representative.
Pleasurable Listening
The first type of listening would be pleasurable listening. Children often wonder how adults can just talk to each other for hours at social gatherings. As we grow out of childhood we become more oriented toward talking as a means of socializing and less oriented toward acting (e.g., playing games) as a means of socializing. Obviously, some types of listening experiences must be pleasurable or enjoyable. Pleasurable listening might also include movies, plays, television, music, and many other forms of entertainment. Although we may benefit intellectually or professionally from this type of listening, these gains are by-products and are not the main reason for engaging in pleasurable listening.
Discriminative Listening
A second type of listening is discriminative listening. This is a more serious type of listening and is primarily used for understanding and remembering (as discussed in the previous section). Discriminative listening would include most of the serious listening situations in which we find ourselves—in the classroom, listening on the job, listening to instructions, and many others. As a general rule of thumb, the more important the situation (e.g., listening to directions on how to react in an emergency situation), the more important it is to be able to employ this type of listening.
Critical Listening
The third type of listening is critical listening. Critical listening is usually needed when we suspect that we may be listening to a biased source of information. For example, if we were to ask a physician to tell us her opinion of Medicare we would expect that her own feelings would make it hard for her to give a totally objective answer. Critical listening is also associated with being able to detect propaganda devices employed by a communicator. During World War II a number of federal agencies, including the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, identified several specific devices that are still sometimes used as means of presenting information in a biased or distorted manner. As we examine a few of these devices we will see that they are often used in everyday interpersonal communication situations as well as in more formal mass communication contexts. However, some of the same devices are also legitimate forms of presenting information. Thus, the technique itself may not be inherently bad; it is the way in which it is used or misused that determines its value and creates the challenge for the critical listener. With this in mind, let us examine several techniques that may be used to help present ideas. We will also indicate how these techniques may be misused.
The means of developing a point are often called methods of support or materials of support. There are at least four specific methods of support, including (1) analogy, (2) example, (3) statistics, and (4) testimony or quotation.