Active Empathic Listening

· Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapters 7 and 8 of Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication, specifically Sections 7.2 and 8.3. Also, watch the video below.

To be an effective communicator; you must master the core competency of listening. A willingness to listen during an interaction allows you to understand others, respond appropriately to what they say, and provide helpful feedback. Bevan (2020) describes ideal listening as active and empathic. In this discussion, you will take a listening quiz, and then explain how using active empathic listening can help you improve as a communicator in your personal and professional relationships.

· In your initial post,

1. Using and citing Bevan, define active empathic listening. Report on both meaning and significance of the definition, in your own words.

2. Complete this listening quiz (Links to an external site.) and report your results and feedback to the group.

3. If you cannot access this resource, take a similar, text-based version in Bevan (Section 8.3) titled “Self-Test: Bodies’ Active-Empathic Listening Scale.”

4. Explain how you can use active empathic listening to help you improve your communication in your personal interactions or in the workplace.

5. Provide at least one example of exactly how you can change your listening habits and how you will benefit from this change.

For this discussion forum, your initial post should be 300 to 350 words in length.

I could not access the listing quiz, I had to take the self-test: Bodies’ Active-Empathic Listening Scale

Here are my results:

Sensing: 2.9

Processing: 2.7

Response: 3.6

The higher your scores are for each AEL stage, the more you are an active-empathic listener.

AEL has three stages:

1. Sensing: The listener indicates that she is actively involved and taking in the information provided by the speaker. Focusing on the speaker’s nonverbal messages can assist with understanding the content and relational meanings of the message.

2. Processing: The listener shows engagement by remembering what the other says and clarifying points made by the speaker. In essence, the speaker’s message is evaluated by the listener.

3. Response: The listener asks questions, paraphrases, and nonverbally indicates involvement in and understanding of the interaction.