Deck 8: Listening

Question 1

The _________ involves the degree to which we feel safe, supported, and understood in a relationship.

A) interaction expectation
B) social climate
C) personal valuation
D) relational climate

Answer 1

relational climate

Question 2

Whenever Suzanne has a problem, she talks to her friend, Sarah. "With Sarah, I always feel safe, supported, and understood." The comfort that Suzanne is expressing is related to

A) relational climate.
B) personal valuation.
C) social climate.
D) interaction expectation.

Answer 2

relational climate.

Question 3

When our relational climate is supportive and based on mutual trust, respect, and support, we say it's a ________ climate.

A) conforming
B) interactional
C) disconfirming
D) conventional

Answer 3

conforming

Question 4

Jonah suggests that the relational climate he has with his father is conforming. Which of the following descriptions best fits this type of climate?

A) His father rarely has time to listen.
B) His father takes the time to listen, but always seems distracted and withdrawn.
C) His father listens, offers advice regardless of whether it is requested, and gives support when he makes a final decision.
D) His father takes the time to listen, offers advice when asked, and respects his son's decisions.

Question 5

In a disconfirming climate, the relational climate is characterized by defensiveness, negative judgments, and

A) openness.
B) trust.
C) mistrust.
D) strength.

Question 6

Megan finds it difficult to talk to her friend, Julie. "Whenever I try to get some insight into my problem, Julie just judges me without hearing all the evidence, if she even takes the time to listen." Megan's description best fits the ___________ type of relational climate.

A) disconfirming
B) confirming
C) supportive
D) neutral

Question 7

The _______ climate is most likely to contribute to defensiveness because we feel the listener's judgment has been imposed on us.

A) confirming
B) supportive
C) neutral
D) disconfirming

Question 8

According to Buber (1970), being accepted and respected by others contributes to our psychological growth and

A) interactional style.
B) self-actualization.
C) acceptance of others.
D) empathy.

Question 9

The most basic level of confirmation in a relational climate is

A) recognizing another's existence.
B) acknowledging another's person's thoughts, feelings, or actions.
C) accepting another person's thoughts or feelings as valid.
D) sharing the information you've learned about the person with another.

Question 10

Walking across campus, Mary smiles or establishes eye contact with those individuals she recognizes. This is an example of what level of confirmation in a relationship?

A) Recognizing another's existence
B) Acknowledging another person's thoughts, feelings, or actions
C) Accepting another person's thoughts or feelings as valid
D) Sharing the information you've learned about one person with another

Question 11

One way to punish others is to withdraw from interactions, including recognizing their existence or acknowledging their existence. This is also known as giving the other person the

A) door in the face.
B) foot in the door.
C) kick in the pants.
D) silent treatment.

Question 12

The second level of confirmation in relational climate involves

A) recognizing another's existence.
B) accepting another person's thoughts or feelings as valid.
C) acknowledging another person's thoughts, feeling, or actions.
D) sharing the information you've learned about the person with another.

Question 13

After a long day at work, Greg came home and announced, "I've had the worst day ever!" Which of the following would be a supportive response to the announcement consistent with the second level of confirmation in relational climate?

A) "You think you had a bad day-wait until you hear about mine!"
B) "You say you've had a hard day every day. Get a new job."
C) "You worry too much about work."
D) "I'm sorry you had a hard day. Do you want to talk about it?"

Question 14

Not acknowledging another person's thoughts, feelings, or actions may leave a person

A) feeling heard.
B) feeling unimportant or misunderstood.
C) feeling trusted to handle the problem on his or her own.
D) supported.

Question 15

Accepting another person's thoughts or feelings as valid is also called

A) acceptance.
B) acknowledgement.
C) recognition.
D) endorsement.

Question 16

Stefanie is feelings stressed because, yet again, she has taken on too many projects that need to be completed in a short period of time. When she expresses her concerns to her friend, Stacy, Stacy endorses her statement by responding,

A) "I know you are stressed. It's hard to complete so much in so little time."
B) "You always say that, yet you always overwork yourself."
C) "You worry too much about deadlines; no one cares if everything is in on time."
D) "You work better under pressure. Get over it."

Question 17

Although effective communication involves a variety of skills, the single most important of these skills is

A) speaking clearly.
B) thinking about what you are going to say.
C) listening.
D) knowing your audience.

Question 18

Good listening skills involve hearing, understanding, and

A) talking honestly about your own problems.
B) responding in a way that clarifies or confirms your understanding.
C) dividing attention effectively.
D) presenting your own side on a dispute.

Question 19

Adults ranked __________ the best communication skill for effectiveness in both family and broader settings (Nolvin, 1984).

A) empathy
B) listening
C) sympathy
D) hearing

Question 20

The first step of listening involves

A) the physical element: hearing.
B) attending.
C) understanding.
D) responding.

Question 21

Paying attention, the second step to complete listening, to what a speaker is saying is known as

A) hearing.
B) attending.
C) understanding.
D) responding.

Question 22

_________ involves not only attending to what the speaker says, but also the nonverbal aspect of the message and the context of the message.

A) Hearing
B) Attending
C) Understanding
D) Responding

Question 23

Your best friend responds to the question, "How was your test?" with a softly spoken, "Fine." Knowing your friend had a rough week at home and at work, you interpret "fine" differently. This is an example of ___________ associated with complete listening.

A) hearing
B) attending
C) understanding
D) responding

Question 24

Although listening is perceived as a passive behavior, the last step in effective listening is

A) hearing.
B) attending.
C) understanding.
D) responding.

Question 25

_______ barriers to listening include our thoughts or emotions whereas _______ barriers to listening originate in the message, the sender, or the environment.

A) Internal; external
B) Genetic; situational
C) External; internal
D) Observable; nonobservable

Question 26

One barrier to listening, ___________, involves the stress, anxiety, anger, or other emotion that interferes with our ability to give the speaker our full attention.

A) emotional noise
B) cognitive distraction
C) noise
D) informational overload

Question 27

Marsha was having a hard time listening to Clara's newest breakup story because Marsha herself had just been dumped by her boyfriend of three years. Because Marsha is devastated, her ability to pay attention is being affected by

A) noise.
B) cognitive distraction.
C) emotional noise.
D) informational overload.

Question 28

Mason was angry because of his recent fight with his girlfriend. When his friend, Jack, called to talk, Mason was unable to pay close attention due to

A) emotional noise.
B) cognitive distraction.
C) noise.
D) informational overload.

Question 29

Sometimes, another unavoidable topic is on our mind when others try to talk to us. _________is another type of barrier that interferes with our ability to pay attention.

A) Emotional noise
B) Cognitive distraction
C) Noise
D) Information overload

Question 30

To prevent cognitive distraction from interfering with our ability to listen to others, we can put it aside temporarily, also known as

A) redirection.
B) recessitate.
C) reorganization.
D) compartmentalization.

Question 31

Bill wanted to talk to Jane about his frustrating day at work, but noticed she seemed particularly stressed out. He temporarily put aside the thought of his day and asked her what was wrong. Temporarily "filing away" our own issues is known as

A) reconsidering.
B) compartmentalizing.
C) reorganizing.
D) distracting.

Question 32

__________ occurs when we stop listening to a message before the speaker is finished.

A) Emotional noise
B) Cognitive distraction
C) Compart
D) Premature judgment

Question 33

One external barrier to listening involves ________, or the distraction associated with other conversations in the room, a television or stereo playing, or any other sound that intrudes while you are trying to listen to someone.

A) noise
B) emotional noise
C) compartmentalization
D) information overload

Question 34

In the presence of distracting noise, it is possible to become accustomed to the intrusive stimulus and, therefore, reduce its impact on us. This is known as

A) noise.
B) sensory adaptation.
C) selective attention.
D) information overload.

Question 35

At first, the noise at the party was overwhelming, but soon, Tracy began to get used to the music. This is known as

A) sensory adaptation.
B) noise.
C) selective attention.
D) information overload.

Question 36

When the environment is distracting, it sometimes becomes necessary to focus our attention to one stimulus and filter out other less relevant stimuli. This is known as

A) sensory adaptation.
B) noise.
C) selective attention.
D) information overload.

Question 37

Caitlin found it very hard to talk to her brother at the football game until she tuned out the cheering and focused directly on him. The strategy she is using here is

A) sensory adaptation.
B) noise.
C) selective attention.
D) information overload.

Question 38

Introversion-Extraversion is related to selective attention in that

A) compared to introverts, extraverts prefer higher levels of noise in learning environments.
B) compared to introverts, extraverts prefer lower levels of noise in learning environments.
C) both introverts and extraverts prefer quiet classroom environments.
D) compared to introverts, extraverts are less able to filter out distractions in learning environments.

Question 39

__________ interferes with our ability to listen to others because we try to process too much information.

A) Emotional noise
B) Compartmentalization
C) Information overload
D) Selective attention

Question 40

Sandra took three phone messages within minutes of each other. Because the messages dealt with different issues, roommates, and callers, it didn't take long to realize Sandra's confusion of the messages was due to ___________.

A) emotional noise
B) information overload
C) compartmentalization
D) selective attention

Question 41

According to research on sex differences in the brain, women are _______________ compared to men.

A) equally likely to multitask
B) more likely to multitask
C) less likely to succeed at multitasking
D) less likely to multitask

Question 42

When a friend's message is so complicated that it is difficult to comprehend without taking time away from the message (and the speaker), we say the message is high in

A) emotional noise.
B) purpose.
C) meaning.
D) complexity.

Question 43

Pearl is learning a complicated knitting technique and finds her mind struggling to absorb the information as the teacher shows her the multistep process. Since Pearl really wants to learn this technique, the fact she finds it difficult to pay attention to the speaker is probably related to

A) message complexity.
B) emotional noise.
C) cognitive distractions.
D) premature judgment.

Question 44

Behaviors that appear to look like listening but are, in fact, counterproductive to good listening are called ___________ listening styles.

A) counterintuitive
B) counterfeit
C) imposter
D) deceptive

Question 45

When Jackie talked to her best friend Emily about a recent breakup, she noticed that although Emily appeared to be listening (eye contact, verbal responses at the right places, etc.), she seemed distracted. In this case, Emily may have been using

A) stagehogging.
B) defensive listening.
C) advising.
D) pseudolistening.

Question 46

Sometimes when listening to others, we screen the message for certain topics or issues to which we either respond or ignore. This is known as

A) emotional noise.
B) defensive listening.
C) stagehogging.
D) selective listening.

Question 47

___________ involves perceiving criticism in a message when none is intended by the speaker.

A) Stagehogging
B) Critical listening
C) Selective listening
D) Defensive listening

Question 48

____________ is one of the worst counterfeit listening styles because one response can trigger a downward spiral of increasingly negative communication.

A) Stagehogging
B) Selective listening
C) Defensive listening
D) Critical listening

Question 49

Grace asked her friend, Kerri, "How did you do on the exam?" Kerri replied nastily, "You know I didn't study as much as I should have for that exam. How do you think I did?" Kerri's curt and rude response is typical of

A) stagehogging.
B) selective listening.
C) defensive listening.
D) critical listening.

Question 50

Stagehogging occurs when someone's talking to us, and we use something the speaker says as an opening to

A) to ask other questions of the speaker.
B) hurt the other person.
C) talk about a story of our own.
D) talk about our desire to be performers.

Question 51

Although stagehogging is sometimes intended as a form of one-upmanship, it can also result from a sincere attempt to

A) overwhelm the audience.
B) relate to the speaker.
C) relate to the message.
D) show the person a lack of support.

Question 52

Some listening styles are ___________ ways of responding to a speaker and show interest in, and empathy for, the person and situation.

A) fake
B) selective
C) counterfeit
D) authentic

Question 53

According to your text, when we are using authentic listening styles, we show our interest through ________ and __________ responses.

A) selective; proprietary
B) temporary; permanent
C) verbal; nonverbal
D) prepared; unprepared

Question 54

Of the available authentic listening styles, __________ and ____________ are considered controversial.

A) paraphrasing; supporting
B) advising; evaluating
C) analyzing; questioning
D) minimally encouraging; supporting

Question 55

A listening style in which the responder offers advice is known as the __________ style.

A) evaluating
B) advising
C) analyzing
D) supporting

Question 56

According to Goldsmith and Fitch (1997), even when someone asks us our opinion, the _________ listening style is typically the least helpful response.

A) evaluating
B) advising
C) analyzing
D) supporting

Question 57

When listeners respond to us with a statement that makes a judgment about us or our situation, this is known as a(n) ___________ listening style.

A) advising
B) evaluating
C) analyzing
D) questioning

Question 58

Nora isn't doing well in her class, and she asks her friend, Jami, what she should do. Jami's response is, "Just drop it." Rather than listening to Nora's concerns about the class or her performance, Jami jumped to _________, one of the controversial listening styles.

A) advising
B) evaluation
C) analyzing
D) questioning

Question 59

One effective listening style involves offering a different perspective on the issue. This style is also known as

A) advising.
B) evaluating.
C) analyzing.
D) questioning.

Question 60

One advantage of the analyzing style of listening is it offers the speaker

A) support for his or her perspective.
B) a possible explanation or alternative viewpoint he or she may not have considered.
C) the opportunity to review only one side of a dilemma.
D) to get something off his or her chest.

Question 61

The ___________ style of listening encourages speakers to continue talking about their concerns and also shows the listener's interest.

A) advising
B) evaluating
C) analyzing
D) questioning

Question 62

One situation in which questioning responses may be ineffective involves asking questions

A) targeted at helping the listener sort through the issue.
B) which clarify the point.
C) which satisfy the personal curiosity of the listener.
D) which relate to the issue at hand.

Question 63

When we encourage the speaker to continue by giving short, yet unintrusive responses, we are relying on the __________ style.

A) supporting
B) minimally encouraging
C) paraphrasing
D) questioning

Question 64

According to the _________ style of listening, we should say things that validate the speaker's thoughts or feelings and let him or her know we understand.

A) supporting
B) minimally encouraging
C) paraphrasing
D) questioning

Question 65

Which of the following styles would be less effective if a person has a lot to get off his or her chest?

A) Minimally encouraging
B) Supporting
C) Analyzing
D) Paraphrasing

Question 66

The most broadly effective, but difficult to master, response style is the

A) supporting.
B) minimally encouraging.
C) questioning.
D) paraphrasing.

Question 67

______________ is a listening response that reflects what the speaker is feeling or thinking and is expressed in a way that encourages the speaker to continue.

A) Paraphrasing
B) Supporting
C) Minimally encouraging
D) Advising

Question 68

Paraphrasing responses should be used

A) across all situations.
B) when you are short on time.
C) when you are unable to expend a lot of effort.
D) when the person with whom you are talking is important to you and when you have time to focus on the conversation.

Question 69

According to Tannen (1990), men tend to communicate to ___________ and women tend to communicate to

A) create harmonious relationships; gain status.
B) gain status; create harmonious relationships.
C) use less authentic styles; use more authentic styles.
D) decrease authority; increase authority.

Question 70

In general, men are more likely to take a(n) __________ approach to listening than are women.

A) empathy-oriented
B) verbal
C) problem-solving
D) cooperative

Question 71

Compared to men, women are more likely to take a(n) _________ approach to listening.

A) empathy-oriented
B) verbal
C) problem-solving
D) cooperative

Question 72

Christine gets frustrated when talking with her husband about work. When she wants to vent, he is "solving" her problems before she can even finish describing them. This fundamental difference in communication style comes from her tendency to take a(n) ____________ approach and his tendency to take a(n) _____________ approach.

A) empathy-oriented; problem-solving
B) problem-solving; empathy-oriented
C) verbal; nonverbal
D) questioning; minimally supporting

Question 73

In a classroom situation, our listening goal involves listening

A) to help.
B) for information.
C) to provide a service.
D) as a habit.

Question 74

One way to consider the speaker's needs involves

A) thinking about your own message.
B) understanding what he or she needs from you.
C) knowing your own limits of time and attention.
D) listening for your own feelings, as well as thoughts.

Question 75

One of the best ways to maintain attention when dealing with a speaker's complex message involves organizing information. According to your text, this is also known as

A) schematic organization.
B) mentally summarizing key ideas.
C) hierarchical organization.
D) message evaluation.

Question 76

Kiki went out to dinner with her husband, Ben, and she started telling him about the great day she had. While she was talking, Ben pulled out his phone and started checking the scores of the hockey game going on that night and looking at his Facebook messages. Ben's behavior is an example of which of the following?

A) YMMV
B) FOMO
C) YOLO
D) NSFW

Question 77

FOMO has a negative impact on ______________, or the ability to pay attention.

A) responding
B) understanding
C) hearing
D) attending

Question 78

Mindfulness is an effective strategy for reducing which of the following?

A) Relational climate
B) Emotional noise
C) Premature judgment
D) Cognitive distractions

Question 79

Janet recently broke up with her boyfriend. She has been having a lot of negative thoughts about how she will never be married and loved like all of her girlfriends are. Instead of trying to distract herself or wallowing in her feelings, she just acknowledges her thoughts and allows them to flow. This is an example of ________________, which can help her get some emotional distance from the situation.

A) cognitive appraisal
B) fear of missing out
C) mindfulness
D) compartmentalizing

Question 80

Barry has just failed a test in his pre-law class. He begins to think about how he will never finish his bachelor's degree, get into a good law school, or realize his dreams of becoming a prosecutor. When this happens, he reminds himself that one test does not negate his previous history of good grades and that he can study more and ask for extra credit to make up for this one bad grade. This is an example of using ______________, which means he replaced emotional thoughts with more rational ones.

A) self-talk
B) self-knowledge
C) stagehogging
D) stereotyping