Active listening

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Among active listening is in the interpersonal communication , the emotional (affective) reaction of a conversation partner understood in the message of a speaker. The American psychologist and psychotherapist Carl Rogers first described active listening as a tool for client-centered psychotherapy (conversation psychotherapy). His work, which is characterized by a humanistic image of man, places particular value on encounters : It includes the emotional level, non-verbal expressions and mutual benevolence in principle.

Active listening is differentiated on the one hand from the less directive echo technique , in which the last word of what is heard is only repeated mechanistically, and on the other hand from the more directive paraphrase , which returns the cognitive part of the recorded message.

aims

The goals of using active listening are complex. At the interpersonal level - especially the relationship level - mutual trust should be built and a respectful interaction should be promoted.

In the rhetorical field, active listening can be used to gain time, to distract the interlocutor - in a negative sense - and to promote non-violent communication . Other reasons for active listening can be summarized as follows:

  • Reduction of misunderstandings
  • Improve interpersonal relationships
  • Promote empathy
  • Improvement of problem solving
  • Easier behavior correction
  • Learning through feedback.

Listening models

In addition to a large number of descriptive models, the listening models from Rogers and Steil are mainly adopted in the scientific literature:

Model after Carl R. Rogers

Four levels of hearing and understanding according to Rogers, in Studer, 1994

The American psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers illustrates the process of hearing and understanding in four stages in a graphic representation. It forms the basis for a further discourse .

WIBR model according to Lyman K. Steil

In his model to illustrate the listening process, Steil also assumes a four-stage development:

  1. Perception (W): Interest-based listening , understanding body language and facial expression.
  2. Interpretation (I): Acquisition of meaning and interpretation on the basis of one's own beliefs and experiences.
  3. Assessment (B): Acceptance or rejection based on one's own knowledge as well as one's own and societal values that are shaped by experience and culture.
  4. Reaction (R): In a form that the listener perceives as appropriate, what is said is answered verbally or non-verbally. Paul Watzlawick's axiom of communication theory applies , according to which non-behavior is also perceived as communication.

On the one hand, possible sources of error arise from a premature interruption of intensive listening. On the other hand, inappropriate answers and incorrect behavior can arise if the listener does not wait for the respective end of a statement.

Fallacies about listening

The ability to listen well determines how efficiently messages can be conveyed. Listening is therefore more than a functional necessity for human communication. Steil, Summerfield and DeMare state in their publication on active listening (1986) that several misconceptions are widespread:

  1. Listening is primarily a matter of intelligence : With the help of scientific research, this thesis could not be confirmed. However, it was found that very active and enthusiastic people are often the worse listeners due to their intense determination.
  2. Listening is closely related to hearing: the ability to listen is only severely impaired if there is significant hearing loss . However, this usually only affects people with age-related or illness-related physical and / or psychological defects in the hearing aid.
  3. Daily listening replaces practicing: Although listening is normal for almost everyone, the average listening performance is only estimated at around 25 percent. This cannot be significantly improved even through more listening if the underlying communication habits are not fundamentally changed at the same time.
  4. Since the educated person has already learned to pay attention, read and write in school education, we would also know how to listen correctly: This assumption leads to the fact that the ability to listen effectively is neglected as a learnable skill by the education systems.
  5. Learning to read is more important than learning to listen: Humans take in about three times as much information aurally as they do in writing. Since the human hearing aid itself, unlike the eye, is also able to continuously pick up and transmit signals without fatigue, the pedagogical emphasis on the written word deepens the wrong channel.
  6. Good listening is a matter of will: Willpower is not fundamentally necessary for empathy and understanding. The willful and conscious confrontation with the other person shows a strong connection with friendliness and inner affection.
  7. Listening is passive and requires neither skill nor effort: According to Prof. Lyman K. Steil, 51 percent of the success of good communication depends on the listener. If listening is not only understood to mean the purely acoustic recording of the message, but also grasping the content, it becomes clear that listening is just as active a process as speaking.

These fallacies have long prevented the process of listening from being explored on a scientific basis. It is largely thanks to psychology that operationalized listening techniques have been developed.

Active listening guidelines

According to Rogers

Essential elements according to Rogers are the following three axioms, which he also postulates for non-directive conversation in a therapeutic setting:

  1. Empathetic and open attitude
  2. Authentic and congruent appearance
  3. Acceptance and positive consideration for the other person.

According to Rogers, the speaker's understanding is still supported as follows:

  • Get involved with the other person, concentrate and express this through your own posture
  • Be cautious about your own opinion
  • Inquiries if anything is unclear
  • Listening doesn't mean approving
  • Endure breaks, they can be a sign of ambiguity, fear or perplexity
  • Pay attention to your own feelings
  • Recognize and address your partner's feelings
  • Affirmative short utterances
  • Have patience and do not interrupt the speaker, let them finish
  • Keep eye contact
  • Do not let yourself get upset by reproaches and criticism
  • Exercise empathy and put yourself in the situation of the speaker.

According to Reiman and Thies-Sprinthall

In 1997, the authors Reiman and Thies-Sprinthall developed eight guidelines for the application of active listening in educational training ( large quote ):

  1. Realize that aspiring teachers and student teachers are likely to have many strong emotions as they begin their teacher training journey. If the mentor can gain the trainee's trust, there are many opportunities for active listening.
  2. Try to figure out when to be active listening. If the communication from the colleague does not reveal any particular concern, active listening may not be necessary. However, it is important if you want to help him consciously and seriously.
  3. Always be as brief as possible when expressing your understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or worries of your colleague or asking questions; less is more. Just repeating the other person's words is often of little help.
  4. Be aware that active listening skills take time to develop. At the beginning you often feel very wooden and uncomfortable in your role. Accept this feeling as part of the learning process.
  5. Learn to actively listen to worried statements from colleagues and give them the necessary feedback. If you can't think of any necessary and important information, it is better to listen in silence than to say unnecessary things.
  6. Respect confidentiality. Active listening encourages colleagues to open up. Make it clear that what is being talked about is confidential.
  7. Trust in the ability of your colleagues (interns, trainees) to solve problems themselves. It is important to stimulate learning processes by setting tasks and to support them with advice; but effective learning includes looking for and trying out solutions to problems yourself.
  8. Make it clear to yourself that active listening takes strength. When your “batteries” are weak, active listening will be very difficult. In such a case, it is wise to meet at another time.

medium

In order to actively listen, the speaker is given mainly affective, i.e. H. reproduced emotional parts of the message heard. Both non-verbal attention reactions and verbal statements are helpful for this. It is not important to reproduce the recorded message 1: 1 or to interpret factual elements correctly.

  1. Non-verbal communication : nodding, eye contact, turning the upper body and head, and facial expressions. People with pronounced gestures can also actively listen with their hands and arms.
  2. Language : Short confirmation sounds (e.g. "Ah!", "Mhm.", "Oh ?!") with emotional emphasis, a questioning part and a large number of possible short questions (e.g. "That was said like that?" "I beg your pardon ?!", "That is interesting.", "And how do you feel about it?") Represent a broad basis for active listening. An affectively emphasized summary may also count as active listening, unless it is an explicit one cognitive evaluation is given.

The reference to the paraphrase or the paraphrase with its cognitive components of a feedback as a supposed means breaks through the actual meaning of active listening in its precise function for emotional support of the other.

distribution

Active listening is a special part of the so-called nondirective interviewing according to Rogers, the so-called three-step interview in the area of cooperative learning and, in general, of any complete training in the area of ​​interpersonal communication, mediation or leadership. It is conveyed worldwide both at the university level in specialist courses for the fields of study in the humanities , medicine , law and special business administration (here in particular in the area of ​​personal sales ) and in the private sector in a vast number of contexts. The methods of validation in elderly work are also related .

In addition to the classic fields of family and social work, psychotherapy and in the area of personnel development , active listening is also often used to overcome intercultural hurdles, for the training of school mediators and to prepare for communication with people who are prepared to use violence in police work (de-escalation strategies ). In addition, it is increasingly being taught in the nursing area and for general medical discussion behavior.

Methodical support

Further encouragement of a sensitive conversation, a controversy or ambiguous communication in connection with active listening are the consistent separation of the desirable I-message and the frequently judgmental you-message as well as the choice of an appropriate conversation situation ( setting ).

literature

  • Rolf H. Bay: Successful conversations through active listening. Expert, Renningen 2006, ISBN 3-8169-2595-2 .
  • Alan J. Reiman, Lois Thies-Sprinthall: Mentoring and Supervision for Teacher Development. Longman, New York 1998, ISBN 0-8013-1539-5 .
  • Carl R. Rogers: The non-directive advice. Counseling and Psychotherapy. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-596-42176-4 .
  • Lymann K. Steil, Joanne Summerfield, George DeMare: Active listening. Instructions for successful communication. Sauer, Heidelberg 1986, ISBN 3-7938-7751-5 .
  • Stefan Willer, Daniel Weidner , Sigrid Weigel (eds.): Listening. Lists. Trajekte issue No. 29/2014.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mervyn Schmucker & Rolf Köster: Practical Guide IRRT. Imagery Rescripting & Reprocessing Therapy for post-traumatic stress disorders, anxiety, depression and grief . 1st edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-608-89146-1 , p. 67 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Thomas Gordon: Manager Conference. 20th edition. Heyne, Munich 2005, p. 1 ff.
  3. ↑ Steil et al., 1986.
  4. ↑ Eberling, 1985.
  5. ↑ Rogers 1981.
  6. ^ Deutsches Ärzteblatt 98, issue 26 of June 29, 2001.