Active listening
Active listening is the intentional engaging practice of listening in the moment. It is the act of being attentive to what’s communicated verbally and non verbally, then relaying that information to be understood, clarified, and create connection.
Active listening is listening to understand. This form of listening develops a mutual understanding between speaker and listener. Speakers receive confirmation that their point is coming across and listeners absorb more information, comprehension, and understanding by being consciously engaged. The overall goal of active listening is to eliminate any misunderstandings and establish clear communication of thoughts, perceptions, and ideas between the speaker and listener.
Research has demonstrated that active listening promotes trust, reduces misunderstandings, and enhances emotional connection, making it a valuable tool in both personal and professional contexts. In addition to its interpersonal and professional use, active listening is increasingly recognized as an essential tool in digital communication, intercultural dialogue, and social justice contexts. Recent research highlights its role in reducing bias, fostering inclusion, and enhancing understanding across diverse perspectives.
History
The term “active listening” was coined by prominent psychologist Carl Rogers and Richard Farson in 1957. What initially started out as a way to improve counseling in clinical settings and improve patient provider rapport, turned into a method that produced empathetic and relational growth over a variety of settings. The theoretical framework for active listening was developed in the middle of the 20th century, most notably by Rogers and Farson, who launched the concept in their seminal 1957 essay Active Listening. Rooted in therapeutic communication, this approach was earmarked by its emphasis on the transformative power of listening to promote personal and relational growth. Rogers and Farson insisted on the fact that this non-threatening, empathic environment should be created where people would feel listened to and understood; it is the primary condition for overcoming defensiveness and, therefore, the capability of reflection. Their work established active listening as an essential skill for effective interpersonal communication—extending its relevance beyond therapy to business and everyday interactions.Practicing active listening also emphasized Rogers' concept of three facilitative conditions for effective counseling; empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard. Rogers and Farson write: "Active listening is an important way to bring about changes in people. Despite the popular notion that listening is a passive approach, clinical and research evidence clearly shows that sensitive listening is a most effective agent for individual personality change and group development. Listening brings about changes in peoples' attitudes toward themselves and others; it also brings about changes in their basic values and personal philosophy. People who have been listened to in this new and special way become more emotionally mature, more open to their experiences, less defensive, more democratic, and less authoritarian."
Types of Active Listening
Although active listening involves the empathetic understanding and connection between two parties, active listening has a variety of types involved within it.Critical listening
Critical listening is a form of active listening in which you evaluate the information that is being given. Analyzing it for any factual and biased information, assessing the credibility of what’s being said or even the speaker themselves. It involves questioning and addressing the validity of said statements within a conversational setting.Appreciative listening
Appreciative listening is a type of active listening in which you listen for pleasure. It focuses on the aesthetic surrounding the message discussed and allows the listener to become mentally and emotionally invested in the environment within the message.Informational listening
Informational listening is a form of active listening in which you focus your concentration and critical thinking skills to acquire new knowledge on the information being discussed. Information is processed to be transformed into useful knowledge. In addition, it requires recognition of patterns within the information.Discriminative listening
Discriminative listening is a form of active listening in which you focus on nonverbal feedback such as visual cues, sounds, body language, and tone to decipher the intention behind the message being communicated.Comprehensive listening
Comprehensive listening is a form of active listening in which you decipher the full meaning of the information being told through the words of the speaker/overall message.Techniques of active listening
Active listening comprises several components by the listener, who must pay attention to what the speaker is attempting to communicate and elicit clarification where necessary for comprehension. "Many studies suggest that even the smallest improvements in a person’s listening ability can have a noticeable impact on the overall effectiveness of communication and productivity." Developing this skill of active listening can positively impact the speakers and the listeners' mutual understanding and relationship.Although most people overestimate their capacity to use this crucial negotiation skill and lack a proper knowledge of the concept, skilled active listening can reduce tensions, break the deadlock, and provide one with the information one needs to create innovative bargains.
From the speakers perspective, listening is a multidimensional construct that includes attention, comprehension, and positive intention.
Active listening includes further understanding and closeness between the listener and speaker. The more basic ways this is done are through paraphrasing, reflective emotion, and open-ended questions. Paraphrasing involves putting the speaker's message in one's words to demonstrate one's understanding and continue the discussion. Reflective emotion involves identifying the speaker's feelings, whether expressed or not, and responding to those feelings that will further validate the person's emotional state. On the other hand, open-ended questions permit the interviewee to expound on their responses, thus allowing deeper insight into their thoughts and experiences and encouraging a more inclusive dialogue. These skills find their real-life applications in their efficiency. For example, paraphrasing clarifies possible miscommunications by summarizing the speaker's words and verifying the accuracy. Emotion reflection helps to establish empathy with a speaker so that he/she feels appreciated and understood. Open-ended questions, such as "What did you think of that?" or "Can you further explain what that felt like?" describe ideas and feelings that deepen the conversation. Active listening skills, including but not limited to eye contact, no distractions, and clarity seeking, round out these techniques by engaging in an active, respectful, and attentive way. Only by practicing these methods can listeners create a non-threatening, meaningful space for communication.
Comprehension
The first step in the active listening process is that of comprehension. Comprehension is a shared meaning between parties in communication. This can be done through top-down or bottom-up listening strategies. Top-down listening for comprehension will involve preparing for what message is likely going to be given, attempting to organize what is being communicated, and listening for summarizations or shifts in topic. Bottom-up listening for comprehension will involve an attentiveness to emphasized words such as longer or louder words. In addition, careful attention should be paid to repeated parts of the message being communicated. Attentiveness can be emphasized not just in one's ability to listen, but to listen and respond with sensitivity to particular needs or cultural norms. For example, if a person is listening to someone communicate with a disability such as autism, that person will need to pay close attention and forego common methods of organizing information as it is received. One needs to be patient with them not understanding at first. In many of today's cultures, comprehension may include a knowledge of people using neutral pronouns or preferred pronouns. In order to listen for comprehension, it will be important for a receiver to be aware and understand these cultural norms.Retaining
Retaining is the second step in the process. Retaining information is a necessary factor to the active listening process, as it is the process of storing and recalling data. As memory is involved in the active listening process, the information is retained by how meaningful and relevant it is to the listener, and the engagement behind what is being said. Some ways to retain information involve taking notes or making an already known association to what is being covered within the conversation. Retaining information from messages being received is increased with how meaningful what is being said and using repetition so the brain can retain the information. For example, information is best retained in adults experience in what is being said over and over. Communicates back and forth with another communicator about the topic, and maintains visual contact with the source of the message being sent.Responding
There are three basic steps for responding in the following order:- Paraphrase: Explain what one believes has been said in one's own words.
- Clarify: Ensure that one understands what has been said through asking questions.
- Summarize: Offer a concise overview of what one believes the main points and intent of the message received are.
- Pay attention to the message being presented. Allow time for a response, be focused on the moment, and pay attention to your body language.
- Have an open mind being open to new ideas and perspectives. Refrain from thinking about one's own response to what is being presented.
- Refrain from offering judgement on anything the other person says.
- Observe non-verbal content and reflect on what is being said. Reflect the speaker's emotion and what is being said, to validate the speaker's experience, and strengthen overall connection.
- Clarify the information being given by asking unbiased questions. Ask open ended questions or probing questions to get more depth in the conversation. Lastly, ask for elaborations on any doubts or confusion that may have occurred within the conversation.
- Summarize important themes that appeared in the conversation to solidify your comprehension of the other person’s point of view.
- Share your perspective, suggestions, or ideas on what was conversed to come up with a solution or common resolution both the speaker and listener can agree on.