Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

To judge others more accurately, we need to engage in perception checking.
1. Describe your perception of the event
2. Offer three different interpretations of that behavior
3. Seek clarification about the interpretations
4. That’s it! I know this sounds easy, but it’s definitely much harder than it looks.
Key Takeaways
The different types of listening responses are silent listening, questioning,
paraphrasing, empathizing, supporting, analyzing, evaluating, and advising.
Questioning can be to clarify meanings, encourage elaboration, learn about others,
increase discovery, or obtain more information.
Perception checking involves describing the situation, offering three possible
interpretations, and then seeking information.
Exercises
Write down an example of each of the listening responses and why it is appropriate
for that situation. Why did you write down what you did?
Create a chart with the different types of questions and give at least two examples
for each type. Compare with a friend in class.
Watch a movie or television show with your friends, then ask them to write down
the three most notable moments. Compare what you wrote to others. Was it
similar or different? Why or why not? Did you all have the same perceptions?
Why?
Chapter Wrap-Up
We spend most of our lives engaged in talking and listening behavior. As such, understanding the
functions of talking and listening in interpersonal communication is very important. In this chapter,
we started by discussing the importance of everyday conversations. We next discussed a specific type
of talk: disclosing information about ourselves (self-disclosure). We then switched gears and focused
on the listening component. Overall, talking and listening are extremely important to interpersonal
communication, so understanding how they function can help improve our communication skills.
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