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KEY
Chapter 6: Listening
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. The physiological process of perceiving sound is best associated with what term?
2. Which of the following is not one of the steps in the listening process?
3. While talking on the phone with your friend, you are confronted with competing stimuli including the sounds of
the television and your brother and sister playing a game in the living room. You choose the sound of your
friend’s voice over those other sounds. This process is referred to as
4. The step in the listening process where the listener focuses his or her attention on a particular message or sound
is referred to as
5. Critical listeners who carefully evaluate what they hear are referred to as
6. Brad is thought of as a valuable member of his presentation group. During their meetings, he is usually the one
who keeps the group focused on the task they are trying to accomplish rather than becoming sidetracked by
gossip or irrelevant details. We would describe Brad as which type of listener?
7. During class, your goal as a listener is to comprehend the basic ideas, concepts, and theories communicated to
you by your professors. We would characterize your listening as
8. The type of listening that would be most important for you to employ if you were at the car dealership listening
to the salesperson as he attempted to sell you a vehicle would be
9. The process of making guesses about your partner’s thoughts and feelings and then restating back to the other
person what you think he or she has said is referred to as
10. Which of the following is true of listening barriers?
11. The state of uneasiness, anxiety, fear, or dread associated with a listening opportunity is referred to as
12. When Jason and his roommate Adrian get into a minor disagreement over the charges on their cable bill, Jason
is so certain that Adrian is trying to weasel out of paying for the on-demand movies he rented that he doesn’t
even hear Adrian when he asks whether it’s possible Jason’s cousin ordered the movies when she was visiting a
few weeks earlier. We would characterize Jason’s listening behavior as
13. After a long and disappointing day at work, Jackie vents her frustration to her husband. “I can’t believe I
worked so hard for so long on this proposal and I’m not even going to get the chance to present it. I’ll get no
credit at all.” Instead of hearing the frustration and hurt in her voice, Jackie’s husband only hears the problem—
instead of offering support, he offers her advice. “Next time you ought to get it in writing in advance that you’ll
get to make the pitch.” We would characterize her husband’s listening behavior as
14. You find yourself in a bind. You went to your sociology class to turn in your paper, but you still need to do a
final review for the Spanish test in your next class. Ultimately, you end up making eye contact and nodding
your head while your sociology professor lectures, but instead of listening you’re reviewing Spanish vocabulary
words in your head. We would characterize your listening behavior as
15. Which of the following is not true of gendered listening behaviors?
True/False Questions
5. Time-oriented listeners indicate a preference for receiving information that is organized chronologically
6. Content-oriented listeners prefer to listen to information from sources they perceive to be credible, and enjoy
10. During a heart-to-heart conversation with a close friend, we would most likely be engaged in appreciative
11. Appreciative listening offers no benefit to the listener besides the enjoyment they receive from the activity.
13. Poor listening behaviors can make an individual less attractive, and may reduce the chances that his or her
14. A room that is too hot or cold may present environmental challenges that make it difficult for a person to listen
17. Because most young people today have grown up surrounded by environmental distractions, they are able to
18. In American culture, we tend to value listening more than talking, which can create an awkward imbalance to
19. Many people experience listening apprehension, a state of anxiety, fear, or dread associated with listening, and
20. Defensive listeners are considered to be highly focused and effective because they take in all of the relevant
21. Selective listening is considered to be not only an ineffective listening behavior, but also an unethical
26. Decoding messages over the telephone often requires more effort than would be required in a face-to-face
1. Briefly describe the differences between hearing and listening.
H = How We Listen (p. 120); C = knowledge; D = 1
2. List the five steps in the listening process.
H = The Listening Process (p. 121); C = knowledge; D = 2
3. __________ listeners listen with relationships in mind. They tend to be most concerned with others’ feelings
and are usually good at assessing others’ moods. By contrast, __________ listeners are most concerned with
efficiency; they prefer information that is clear and to the point, and have little patience for speakers who talk
too much or wander off topic.
H = Personal Listening Preferences (p. 122); C = knowledge; D = 2
4. Define critical thinking.
H = Critical Listening (p. 124); C = knowledge; D = 1
5. Briefly describe a situation in which you were required to engage in empathic listening.
H = Empathic Listening (p. 125); C = comprehension; D = 1
6. What does it mean to paraphrase as a listening behavior?
7. How does appreciative listening benefit the listener?
H = Appreciative Listening (p. 125); C = comprehension; D = 2
8. Provide an example of an environmental factor that you consider a listening barrier in this classroom.
H = Environmental Factors (p. 128); C = comprehension and application; D = 2
9. Jean routinely reads her Communication and You textbook while also watching her favorite sitcoms and
communicating with her friends on Facebook. She does this because she believes she is good at __________,
but what she doesn’t realize is that focusing her attention on so many different things at once presents a
listening barrier because her attention is finite.
H = Multitasking (p. 129); C = comprehension; D = 2
10. How does boredom affect your ability to listen effectively?
H = Boredom and Overexcitement (p. 130); C = comprehension; D = 2
11. List two unethical listening behaviors.
H = Unethical Listening Behaviors (pp. 131‒134); C = knowledge; D = 2
12. __________ is listening in order to control the communication interaction.
H = Selfish Listening (p. 134); C = knowledge; D = 2
13. Describe the difference between attacking and ambushing.
H = Hurtful Listening (p. 134); C = comprehension; D = 2
Essay Questions
1. Describe the listening process. Using a detailed narrative example, illustrate what a communicator would be
doing at each of the five stages.
2. Compare and contrast the four listening preferences or styles. In what types of contexts would each style be
particularly effective and appropriate?
C = comprehension and analysis; D = 2
3. What are the goals of informational, critical, empathic, and appreciative listening? What, specifically, can a
listener do to improve his or her ability to meet each of these listening goals?
C = comprehension; D = 2
4. Explain the concept of critical thinking. How does it relate to the listening process? How does one go about
thinking critically in the role of a listener?
C = comprehension; D = 2
5. How does improving our listening competence benefit us academically, professionally, and interpersonally?
C = comprehension; D = 1
6. Describe the barriers to effective listening. What would you advise someone who is challenged by any of these
specific barriers to do in order to improve his or her listening competence?
C = comprehension; D = 2
7. What listening behaviors would you characterize as unethical? Synthesizing what you know about ethics and
the transactional nature of communication, explain why these behaviors would be characterized as unethical,
and not merely ineffective.
C = comprehension, synthesis, and analysis; D = 3
8. How does gender influence listening behaviors? Synthesizing what you have learned about gender in this and
other chapters of the book, what do you think is at the root of these differences?
C = comprehension and synthesis; D = 2
9. In what ways do people from different cultures listen differently?
*This question can be expanded for greater synthesis by adding the following line of questioning: Considering
what you have learned about high-context cultures and low-context cultures in Chapter 3, what connections can
you infer about the cultural differences between verbal and nonverbal behavior and listening behaviors?
C = comprehension, synthesis, and application; D = 1‒3
10. How does listening differ in mediated contexts versus in face-to-face interaction? Synthesizing what you
learned about how to listen well to accomplish each of the four listening goals, as well as how to overcome
various listening barriers, what advice would you give to someone who wants to improve his or her listening
ability when talking on the phone or using other communication technology?
C = comprehension and synthesis; D = 2
