Beebe/Beebe/Ivy Communication: Principles for a Lifetime, 6e Test Bank
facts. Feminine listeners tend to be more empathic and subjective, look for relationships among
pieces of information, and rely more upon meaning communicated through nonverbal behavior.
They listen to establish personal relationships; they can focus on more than one thing at a time
and tend to shift between competing messages.
Learning Objective: LO 5.4 Identify and describe barriers that keep people from listening well.
Topic: Listening Barriers
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.76 Describe three strategies to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness of
your responses.
Answer: You should be descriptive rather than evaluative. In other words, describe your
reactions to the message rather than judging the message. You should also be timely. Don’t
wait too long to provide a response. Also, be brief or do not offer more information than is
necessary. Finally, give useful information rather than irrelevant information.
Learning Objective: LO 5.6 Identify and use appropriate responding skills.
Topic: Improving Your Responding Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.77 What is the purpose of responding by paraphrasing?
Answer: Paraphrasing is the process of restating in your own words what you think a person is
saying. This process helps you clarify and verify that you understand what it is they are saying
and makes you a better responder.
Learning Objective: LO 5.6 Identify and use appropriate responding skills.
Topic: Improving Your Responding Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
5.4 Fill-in-the-Blank
TB_Q5.78 The first of the five activities of listening is _____, in which we focus on one
sound as we sort through various sounds competing for our attention.
Answer: selecting
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.79 In the listening process, after a listener selects a sound, he or she will_____ to
it.
Answer: attend
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.80 The third of the five activities of listening is _____, in which we interpret
information by relating it to our past experiences.
Answer: understanding
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.81 In the _____ aspect of the listening process, the listener recalls information.
Answer: remembering
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.82 The last of the five activities of listening is _____, in which we give verbal or
nonverbal feedback to the speaker.
Answer: responding
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.83 _____ listeners prefer to focus on emotions and feelings.
Answer: Relational
Learning Objective: LO 5.3 Describe four listening styles.
Topic: Listening Styles
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.84 Questioning the assumptions underlying a message describes _____.
Answer: second guessing
Learning Objective: LO 5.3 Describe four listening styles.
Topic: Listening Styles
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.85 Ben is afraid that he will misunderstand what others say to him. He
experiences _____.
Answer: receiver apprehension
Learning Objective: LO 5.4 Identify and describe barriers that keep people from listening well.
Topic: Listening Barriers
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Answer: stop/look/listen
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use strategies that can improve your listening skills.
Topic: Improving Your Listening Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.87 Social _____ involves stepping away from your own thoughts and attempting
to experience the thoughts of another.
Answer: decentering
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use strategies that can improve your listening skills.
Topic: Improving Your Listening Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.88 A meta-message is defined as the message about the _____.
Answer: message
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use strategies that can improve your listening skills.
Topic: Improving Your Listening Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q5.89 When you check the accuracy of your understanding of your partner’s
message by offering a summary in your own words, you are _____.
Answer: paraphrasing
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use appropriate responding skills.
Topic: Improving Your Responding Skills
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
5.6 Essay Questions
TB_Q5.90 Use the five steps of the listening process to describe how you listen to a
lecture.
Answer: Answers may differ, but they should all employ the five steps of the listening process
to explain what happens as they listen to a lecture. What follows is an example. As I listen to a
class lecture, I must select the sounds, words, and nonverbal behaviors that are competing for
my attention. Since I know the material the professor is addressing is something I need to
know for the exam if for no other reason, I attend to what the teacher is saying and block out
competing or distracting sounds from elsewhere. If the teacher speaks well, he or she will help
me to listen by using humor or connecting ideas to concrete or real things. As I listen, I will
seek to understand what the professor is saying by trying to relate what I hear to what I
already know. By connecting the ideas and concepts discussed by the teacher, I will try to
remember or recall the information. We increase our ability to remember what we hear by
being not only physically present, but also mentally present. That’s one reason I take notes, so
I can review the material again later. As I try to understand and listen, I will respond to the
teacher by use of eye contact, facial expressions, or head nods that can communicate
confusion or boredom; I can also ask questions or make comments.
Learning Objective: LO 5.2 Identify the elements of the listening process.
Topic: How We Listen
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.91 Explain and give an example of each of the three self-barriers to listening.
Answer: First, people can become self-focused by paying more attention to their own internal
thoughts than the message of the speaker. An example of this would be thinking about your
own problems rather than focusing on the message your friend is trying to send to you.
Second, emotional noise occurs when a word, a concept or idea, or the emotional state of the
speaker causes emotional arousal that can be a distraction for the listener. The listener may
Topic: Listening Barriers
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.92 Briefly explain emotional noise.
Answer: Emotional noise occurs when our emotional arousal interferes with communication
effectiveness. For example, if something makes us angry, it might be difficult for us to
communicate because of that anger. Certain words or phrases can arouse emotions quickly.
You respond emotionally because of personal experience, cultural background, religious
convictions, or political philosophy.
Learning Objective: LO 5.4 Identify and describe barriers that keep people from listening well.
Topic: Listening Barriers
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.93 Identify and explain the three steps of the process for improving your
listening.
Answer: The three steps for improving listening are stop, look, and listen. To stop means to
become aware of and minimize the effect of internal and external distractions that interfere
with listening. The use of self-talk can help us shift our focus from ourselves to the other. We
can talk to ourselves in an effort to deliberately tune out distracting or competing messages.
To look means to become aware of both the speaker’s and your own nonverbal behavior. Pay
attention to the speaker’s nonverbal behavior and assess its impact on your understanding of
the message. Pay attention to your own nonverbal behavior and what it may communicate
about your interest in the speaker. When you listen, search for the essence of the speaker’s
thoughts. Make sure you understand your goals in listening and mentally summarize your
understanding of the message. Weave your understanding of details into a comprehensive
understanding of the speaker’s message.
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use strategies that can improve your listening skills.
Topic: Improving Your Listening Skills
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.94 Briefly explain meta-messages and provide an example of one.
Answer: Meta-messages are messages about the message. The nonverbal meta-message
provides information about the emotional and relational effect of what a speaker is expressing
with the verbal message. A friend might be telling you that he or she feels sick and can’t go to
the museum with you, but the sly smile on his or her face may be contradicting the verbal
message.
Learning Objective: LO 5.5 Identify and use strategies that can improve your listening skills.
Topic: Improving Your Listening Skills
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.95 How does a meta-message (or meta-communication) help us to understand?
Answer: A meta-message is a message about a message, as meta-communication is
communication about communication. When looking for a partner’s unspoken message, as in
nonverbal aspects of the message, we are looking at meta-messages. Understanding meta-
TB_Q5.96 Your sister, Monica, is telling you about her three roommates. It seems none
of them will follow the schedule they agreed on for cleaning the kitchen and the
bathrooms. Monica has just about had enough—she returned from a weekend away
only to find the living room full of empty pizza boxes and beer cans. “I just don’t think I
can live like this anymore. I can’t afford to find another place, but I’m so upset I can’t
focus on the research paper that’s due next week,” she complains. Using the skills of
empathetic listening, discuss the four techniques and give an example of each that
would be an appropriate response to Monica. In addition, explain the expected
consequences from using this type of listening with your sister.
Answer: The first step of listening with empathy is to understand your partner’s feelings. This
involves “decentering” yourself, so that you are focused on the other person and his or her
feelings rather than on your own feelings or thoughts. If you have experienced exactly the
same situation, you might remember the frustrations you felt. At any rate, to help you
accomplish this, put aside what you were doing and give her your full attention. The next
technique is to ask questions. You might be seeking clarification, more information, or
checking to see if your interpretation is clear. You might ask Monica, “Did they tell you about
their plans for a party?” “Did they apologize and say they would clean it up?” In addition, you
can use paraphrasing. Paraphrasing for content is putting into your own words the information
you received. “You said that you came back after being gone for only a weekend?” Also, you
may paraphrase emotions. “You sound really at the end of your rope and angry.” Using these
techniques allows you to clarify any information you might have misunderstood, understand
her feelings, allow her to clarify her feelings, communicate to her that you are empathic
enough to listen, and help her work through her situation.
Learning Objective: LO 5.6 Identify and use appropriate responding skills.
Topic: Improving Your Responding Skills
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It