Deck 6: Mindful Listening

Question 1

As after taking cooking lessons, Thelma bakes a cake for her friend Louise's birthday. When Louise sees the cake, she says, "Wow, that's so sweet. My mom always made a special cake for my birthday, and she would decorate it so elaborately." Thelma replies, "Well I'm sorry that I didn't decorate the cake extravagantly. I guess I still have a lot to learn about cooking." Thelma's response illustrates

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

This involves very careful listening

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

As the meeting stretches to three hours, Julie starts to experience a listening obstacle that involves fatigue, hunger, and having trouble summoning the energy needed to listen closely. This is an example of ____.

A) lack of effort
B) disremembering
C) reacting to emotionally loaded language
D) imposing preconceptions
E) not adapting to diverse listening styles

Answer 3

A

Question 4

This involves perceiving personal attacks, criticism, or hostility in communication that is not critical or mean-spirited.

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 5

A form of nonlistening is ____, which involves focusing only on particular parts of communication.

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 6

Listening or trying to listen takes up at least ____ of most people's waking time.

A) 1/8
B) 1/4
C) 1/3
D) 1/2
E) 3/4

Question 7

Two broad types of barriers to mindful listening are obstacles in the communication situation and obstacles in the communicators. Some examples of these obstacles are.

A) being open to the person, concentrating on what the person is saying, and refocusing on what is being said
B) message overload, message complexity, noise, preoccupation, and prejudgment
C) giving nonverbal responses, evaluating your listening, and avoidance of reframing
D) being wide awake, not letting your thoughts drift, and attending fully
E) paying attention, adopting an involved posture, keeping eye contact, and indicating interest in what the other person says

Question 8

A mnemonic is ____.

A) an open-ended question
B) a specific type of noise that deters listening
C) a responsive type of listening
D) a form of mindfulness
E) a memory aid

Question 9

Lawrence is having trouble listening effectively in his advanced philosophy course. Usually he listens well in class, but the professor in this case is so full of information and he presents such complicated ideas that Lawrence has difficulty following and retaining the lectures. Lawrence is experiencing a listening obstacle known as:

A) message overload.
B) preoccupation.
C) message complexity.
D) prejudgment.
E) noise.

Question 10

While listening to her friend Bill, Judy occasionally says, "Tell me more" or "That's interesting, go on." Judy is:

A) using minimal encouragers.
B) relying on mnemonics.
C) paraphrasing.
D) listening for pleasure.
E) listening for complexity.

Question 11

Listening skills need to be modified according to the goals, situations, and people to whom we are listening. Using different listening skills when listening for information and for relationship listening is known as ____.

A) development of responses
B) selected passages
C) adapting listening appropriately
D) critical points of communication
E) background noise

Question 12

Randy says, "I am really bummed out about not getting any job offers." His roommate, Lance, responds, "Sounds as if you're feeling pretty low about the response so far." Lance's communication is an example of:

A) using minimal encouragers.
B) relying on mnemonics.
C) paraphrasing.
D) listening for pleasure.
E) listening for complexity.

Question 13

Chelsea does not enjoy the speaker's topic, but her goal is to gather and evaluate the information being presented so she can write a report on the presentation. This is an example of ____.

A) Adapting
B) Listening for information
C) Listening for pleasure
D) Being mindful
E) Carefully selecting

Question 14

As Krista listens very carefully to her teammate Carl as he describes a marketing campaign. When Carl finishes, Krista pounces: "You said we could get a rough draft of the whole campaign by the end of the month. You forgot that we lose two workdays for the annual retreat next week. Besides, your plan calls for some outsourcing. Where are you getting the funds for that?" Krista's response shows that she listened to Carl's ideas not to understand them and work with him but to identify weak spots and attack them. This is an example of:

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 15

As soon as Barton finishes speaking, Matt jumps in and says, "Ha! I knew that's what you'd think and I can tear holes in your reasoning." He then proceeds to refute much of what Barton said. Matt has engaged in:

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 16

While listening to the lecture, Carlos begins to think about the things he needs to do after class, but stops himself and consciously focuses himself on the information being presented in the lecture and takes in as much as he can. This is an example of ____.

A) being mindful
B) selecting
C) interpreting
D) diverting
E) perceiving

Question 17

As soon as the news program begins an interview with the president, Dolores quits paying attention and she mumbles to herself, "I already know everything he has to say and I don't want to hear it again." Dolores's ability to listen is being hindered by:

A) message overload.
B) prejudgment.
C) preoccupation.
D) message complexity.
E) noise.

Question 18

While visiting her parents on a break from school, Deena doesn't pay attention to much of what they say. She lets much of their communication just go in one ear and out the other without her ever listening. However, when her mother mentions going shopping to get some new clothes and good novels for Deena to take back to school, Deena listens attentively. This is an example of ____, one form of nonlistening.

A) defensive listening
B) literal listening
C) selective listening
D) ambushing
E) pseudolistening

Question 19

As soon as Barton finishes speaking, Matt jumps in and says, "Ha! I knew that's what you'd think and I can tear holes in your reasoning." He then proceeds to refute much of what Barton said. Matt has engaged in:

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 20

During a student speech, the campus landscapers begin mowing the lawn, making the student's presentation difficult to hear. The audience is experiencing ____, one listening obstacle.

A) message overload
B) prejudgment
C) preoccupation
D) message complexity
E) noise

Question 21

When we listen literally, we don't make the effort to understand how others feel about what they say or to endorse them as people.

Question 22

Poor listening is a leading reason that some people don't advance in their career.

Question 23

This involves listening only for content and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 24

Not surprisingly, people who engage in ambushing tend to arouse defensiveness in others.

Question 25

Ambushing is listening carefully for the purpose of attacking a speaker.

Question 26

The only guidelines in listening for pleasure are to be mindful and control distractions.

Question 27

With selective listening, however, we screen out parts of a message that don't interest us and rivet our attention to topics that do interest us.

Question 28

Selective listening is effective because we focus on the most important parts of a message.

Question 29

Situational obstacles include message overload, message complexity, and noise.

Question 30

The final form of nonlistening is literal listening, which involves listening only for content and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.

Question 31

When we listen only literally, we are insensitive to others' feelings and to our connections with them.

Question 32

Being mindful starts with a decision to attend fully to another person.

Question 33

People who only focus on particular parts of communication are engaging in ____.

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 34

Ambushers listen intently to gather ammunition they can use to attack a speaker.

Question 35

As soon as Laura finishes speaking about a dress she bought, Matt listens long enough to see how much she spent and attacks her for spending money. Laura feels like she was assaulted. Matt has engaged in:

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 36

A multi-tasker can be mindful when listening to a speaker and check text messages at the same time.

Question 37

The costs of poor listening in the workplace are minimal.

Question 38

Listening skill is ranked as the single most important feature of effective managers.

Question 39

When we listen like this, we attend only to the content level and overlook what's being communicated on the relationship level.

A) defensive listening.
B) pseudolistening.
C) selective listening.
D) ambushing.
E) literal listening.

Question 40

Literal listening involves focusing only on the relationship-level meaning of a message.

Question 41

Discuss mindfulness and its pertinence to effective listening in interpersonal communication. In your discussion, indicate whether mindfulness is a technique or an attitude and explain how we express our mindfulness to others with whom we are interacting.

Question 42

Discuss what the research says about multi-tasking.

Question 43

Name and explain the obstacles to effective listening that combine to create six forms of nonlistening.

Question 44

Name and explain the internal obstacles to listening.

Question 45

Monopolizing is a form of nonlistening. Define monopolizing and describe two tactics that are typical of monopolizing.

Question 46

Defensive listening, which is perceiving personal attacks, criticism, or hostility in communication that is not critical or mean-spirited.

Question 47

Discuss how listening can be influential in the workplace and how listening may influence career advancement.

Question 48

Some people are generally defensive, expecting criticism from all quarters.

Question 49

Selective listening also occurs when we reject communication that makes us uneasy.

Question 50

Chapter 6 indicates it is important to be supportive when responding to people we care about. Explain what supportiveness means by discussing its relationship to agreeing with others (are the two the same?). Also, in your response describe specific communication behaviors that can be used to demonstrate supportiveness.

Question 51

Chapter 6 states that effective listening varies according to listening purposes and people with whom we interact. Explain how we adapt styles and behaviors of listening to diverse situations and individuals.