Chapter 4. Lecture Notes - Public Speaking

Public Speaking Chapter 4 1. OBSTACLES TD EFFECTIVE LISTENING The first step in improving listening abilities is to recognize and combat the various obstacles to effective listening (Nichols and Stevens 1957 : Nichols 1961 ; Murphy 1987 ; Roach and Wyatt 1988 ; Nichols 1995). -Preeccupation with Other Issues Probably the most serious and most damaging obstacle to effective listening is the tendency to become preoccupied with yourself. Sometimes the preoccupation with yourself centers on assuming the role of speaker You begin to rehearse your responses and think of what you'll say to answer the Speaker. Perhaps you think of a question you want to ask the public speaker. While focusing on yourself you inevitably miss what the speaker is saying. Similarly you may become preoccupied with external issues. You think about what you did last Saturday or your plans for the evening Of course, the more you entertain thoughts of external matters, the less effectively you listen. -Assimilation Another obstacle to listening is assimilation : the tendency to reconstruct messages so they reflect your own attitudes, prejudices, needs and values It's the tendency to hear relatively neutral messages ("Management plans to institute drastic charges in scheduling") as supporting your own attitudes and beliefs ("Management is going to screw up our schedules again"). -Friend-or Foe Factor You may also distort messages because of the friend-or-foe factor, the tenv dency to listen for positive qualities about friends and negative qualities about enemies. For example, if you dislike Fred, then it will take added effort to listen Objectively to Fred's speeches or to criticism that might reflect positively on Fred. -Hearing What : You Expect : to Hear Another obstacle is the failure to hear what the speaker is saying andinstead hear what you expect. You know that your history instructor frequently intersperses lectures with long personal stories and so when she says, "I can remember . . . you automatically hear a personal story and perhaps tune out. -Prejudging the Speech or Speaker Whether in a lecture auditorium or in a small group avoid the tendency to preiudge some speeches as uninteresting or irrelevant. All speeches are, at least potentially, interesting and useful If you prejudge them and tune them out, you'll never be proven wrong ; at the same time, however, you close yourself off from potentially useful information Most important, perhaps Is that you're not, giving the other person a fair hearing Avoid lumping to concluslons before ynu'vfi heard the speaker ; llm conclusions that vou reach may in reality be quite different from the conclusions the speaker draws. -Rehearsing Your Responses Often a speaker may say something with which you disagree. Then, during the rentaiuder of the speech you rnhearso your response or question, you imagino the speaker‘s roply to your response. and then you think of your responiw to the speaker's response. The dialogue goes back and forth in your mind. Meanwhile you miss wlmtevor also the speaker said. You may even miss tho vm‘y part that would answer your quostion. If appropriate. Jot clown the point or question and go back to listening. -Filtering Duh Unpleasant Messages Resist lhe temptation to filter out difficult or unpleasant messages: you don't want to hour that smoothing you believe is untrue or that people you care for are unpleasant and yet these are the very messages you need to listen to with great care These are the messages that will lead you to examine and re-examine your implicit and unconscious assumptions. If you filter out thin kind , you risk failing to correct misinformation You risl : losing new and important insights. 2. PRINCEPLES OF EFFECTEVE LESTENING Effective listening is extremely important because you spend so much time liStening In fact, if you measured importance by the time you spend on an activity, listening would be your most important communication activity Most of your communication time is spent in listening You'll improVe your listening if you listen actively For total meaning, with empathy, and with an open mind. -Listen Actively Perhaps the most basic suggestion for lislrming improvement is to recognize that listening isn't a passive activity You cannot listen without effort : listening is a dill'lcull Process In many ways it's more demanding than speaking in speaking you control the situation ; you can talk about what you like in the way you like In listening However you have to follow the pace the content, and the language of the speaker. The best prei'taration for active listening is to act like an active listener Recall for example, how your body almost automatically reacts to important news Immediately you sit up straighter, cock your head toward the speaker, and remain relatively still and quiet You do this almost reflexively because this is how you listen most effectively This isn't to say that you sliould be tense and uncomfortable but only that your body should -Reflect your active mind To listen actively : -Think of what the speaker is saying. Because your mind can process Information faster than the average rate of speech There’s oflen a tune lag Use this time to summarize the speaker's thoughts formulate questions, and draw connections between what the speaker says and what you already know. - Work at listening. Listening is hard work so be prepared to participate actively. Avoid what James Floyd (1985) calls "the entertainment syndrome" the expectation to be amused and entertained by a speaker. Remove distractions or other interferences (newspapers. magazines, stereos) so that your listening task will have less competition. - Assume there's value in what the speaker is saying Resist assuming that what you have to say is more valuable than the speaker's remarks. - Take notes if appropriate In some instances, you'll want to take notes while the speaker is speaking Taking notes may be helpful if you want to ask A question about a specific item of information or if you want to include a specific statement in your critical eValuation (see Unit 5) try not to distract the speaker Have your pen and paper on your desk rather than shuffle through your book bag Write only what you need to Resist the temptation to to rn the exercise into a writing one rather than a listening one. -Listen for Total Meaning The meaning of a message isn't only in the words used, it's also in the speaker's nonverbal behavior Sweating hands and shaking knees comunmnicate as surely as words do. The meanings communicated in a speech will also depend on What the speaker does not say For example, the speaker who omits references to the homeless or to drugs in a speech on contemporary social problems communicates meaning by these very omissions. Exactly what inferences listeners draw from such omissions depends on a variety of factors Some possible inferences might be that the speaker is poorly Prepared The speaker's research was inadequate, the speaker forgot part of the speech, the speaker is trying to foot the audience by not mentioning this The speaker is trying to cover up certain issues and thinks we Won't notice Or the speaker thinks we are uninformed, stupid, or both. As a listener, therefore, be particularly sensitive to the meanings that significant omissions may connmuiicate As a speaker, recognize that most inferences audiences draw from omissions are negative Most such inferences will reflect negatively on your credibility and on the total impact of the speech Be careful, therefore, to inention significant issues that the audience expects to be discussed In listening for total meaning : I Focus on both verbal and nonverbal messages. Recognize both consistent and inconsistent "packages" of messages and take these cues as guides for drawing inferences about the meaning the speaker is trying to communicate. Ask questions when in doubt. ‘ I See the forest then the trees Connect the specifics to the speaker's general theme rather than merely remembering isolated facts and figures. I Balance your attention between the surface and the underlying meanings Don‘t disregard the literal (surface) meaning of the speech in your attempt to uncover the more hidden (deeper) meanings, -Listen with Empathy Try to feel what the speaker feels empathize with the speaker. To empathize with others is to feel what they feel to see the world they see. To walk in their shoes. Only when you achieve this will You be able to fully understand another's meaning (Eisenberg and Strayer 1987). Listen to feelings as well as to thoughts and ideas ; listen to what the speaker is feeling and thinking. - See the speaker's point of view. Before you can understand 'whai thef speaker is saying you have to see the message From the Speaker point of view. 'Iry putting yourself in the role of the speaker and feel the topic from the speaker's perspective. - Understand the speaker's thoughts and feelings. Don't consider you listening task complete until you've understood what the speaker is feeling as well as thinking. -Avoid "offensive listening." Offensive listening is the tendency to listen to bits and pieces of information that will enable you to attack the speaker or find fault with something the speaker has said. -Listen with an Open Mind Listening with an Open mind is difficult It isn't easy to listen to arguments attacking your cherished beliefs It isn't easy to listen to statements condemning what you fervently believe Listening often stops when such remarks are made Yet it's in these situations that it's particularly important to continue listening openly and fairly To listen with an open mind try these suggestions.