The Nature of Supportive Listening III: Do Relational Affiliation, Closeness, and Quality Mediate the Relationship between Supportive Communication and Listening?

Presented During: Communication and Social Cognition High-Density Paper Session
Sponsor: Communication and Social Cognition Division
Thu, 11/17: 3:30 PM  - 4:45 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Gallier A - Fourth Floor

A variety of supportive communication theories propose that high quality support requires "listening well" (e.g., Burleson, 1994). The fusion of listening and supportive talk is so axiomatic in the scholarly landscape that practical recommendations which often urge putative support providers to be "good listeners" have largely gone unexamined. But what is the cognitive-affective mechanism that links emotional support and listening? In this study we propose that perceptions of relational affiliation, a hardwired, cognitive mechanism mediates the relationship between supportive talk and listening. We also include two additional perceptual mediators, namely relational closeness and relational quality to bolster our argument that relational affiliation does most of the mediating. 383 students observed a five-minute recorded supportive talk between two strangers and subsequently completed a survey for all measures. Our results reveal strong results of immediacy, relational affiliation, and listening in particular.
Author(s)
Graham Bodie, Louisiana State University  -  

Co-Author(s)
Susanne M. Jones, Univ of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Is Anyone Listening to the Teacher's Voice?

Presented During: Scholar to Scholar: Communication and Technologically Diverse Media
Sponsor: Scholar to Scholar
Thu, 11/17: 9:00 AM  - 10:30 AM
New Orleans Marriott
Room: Preservation Hall - Second Floor

Glancing into college classrooms one will see students poking away at hand-held devices while their professor lectures on. Some students use these devices to take notes, what are the effects of this on teaching and learning is during class. Are students tuning out the professor's voice because of gadgets? The literature shows that traditional-aged college students seek immediacy, yet the current research shows they are receiving it not from the teacher in front of them, but from the person on the other end of their technological device. Teaching professors need to be more engaging to win the battle against technology.

Author(s)
Chris Gurrie, University of Tampa

What Good is a Voice if there is No one to Listen to it?

Presented During: Great Ideas for Teaching Students (G.I.F.T.S) Session I
Sponsor: Great Ideas for Teaching Students (G.I.F.T.S)
Thu, 11/17: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Grand Ballroom D/E - Fifth Floor

What good is a voice without a listener to hear it? One of the challenges of public speaking for instructors is to get students to listen to their peers' speeches for more than delivery aspects. Another challenge is to help students learn how to provide constructive criticism in a public setting. This assignment, What Good is a Voice if there is No one to Listen to it?, addresses both challenges. This assignment forces students to listen critically to their peers' speeches, allows them to talk over what they understood with another, and then requires them to give constructive criticism to the speaker in front of the class.

Author(s)
Laura Janusik, Rockhurst University

Components of integrative communication during arguing: Implications for stress symptoms

Presented During: Hurtful and Aggressive Communication in Interpersonal Interactions
Sponsor: Interpersonal Communication Division
Fri, 11/18: 8:00 AM  - 9:15 AM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Grand Ballroom C - Fifth Floor

Serial arguing is positively related to stress-related health problems. Research also demonstrates that using constructive forms of conflict management such as integrative tactics is positively related to self-reported stress after an episode of serial arguing. Constructive communication may facilitate both conflict management and relational well being. However, the present study focuses on why it may be stressful to enact and whether all forms of constructive communication are stressful. Using cognitive depletion theory as a guide, we conducted a survey of 167 daters and found that problem-solving is indirectly and positively related to physical problems and avoidance stress. Second, active listening is indirectly and negatively related to physical problems and avoidance stress. Third, self-expression is indirectly and negatively, but not significantly, related to physical problems and stress. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Author(s)
Rachel Reznik, Elmhurst College  -  

Co-Author(s)
Courtney Waite Miller, Elmhurst College  -  
Michael E. Roloff, Northwestern University

Can we have critical dialogue without critical listening?

Presented During: Discovering Voice in the Communication Classroom Through Critical Dialogue
Sponsor: Undergraduate College and University Section
Fri, 11/18: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Salon 821 - Eighth Floor

Several recent studies have shown that between 40-70 percent of our time communicating is spent listening while only 20-25 percent is actually spent speaking. This paper will reflect on the need for classes of interpersonal, small group, family, intercultural, argumentation, conflict resolution, interviewing and others to both understand the need to critically listen as well as to practice it. Without critical listening can there truly be critical dialogue? What does critical listening mean? How do we critically listen? Critical listening is necessary for individuals to evaluate the validity of arguments and separate credible and biased sources. Critical listeners are equipped with the skills to evaluate individuals' arguments and opinions. Because we only listen at 25 percent efficiency, the goal of this presentation is to extend the discussion of critical thinking and critical dialogue to critical listening so meaningful communication can exist in all areas and across all levels. These ideas need to be expanded to outside the university to a large broad contingent, including those in business, world leaders, governments, and multinational corporations.

Author(s)
Jack E. Sargent, Kean University

The Temporal Stability and Situational Contingency of Active-Empathic Listening

Presented During: Communicating with Empathy and Affection
Sponsor: Interpersonal Communication Division
Sat, 11/19: 8:00 AM  - 9:15 AM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Grand Ballroom B - Fifth Floor

This manuscript presents three studies furthering the development of a self-report measure of active-empathic listening (AEL). Study 1 investigates the temporal stability of the AEL scale, revealing a statistically sound model with no decline in general fit over time, supporting the scale's measurement of an individual trait-like difference. Studies 2 and 3 investigate the contribution of trait-level AEL and various aspects of situations to the utilization of AEL. All three studies contribute validity evidence for a scale that helps operationalize an important component of communication that is largely ignored in the extant literature. The discussion focuses on areas for future research with respect to how AEL might help (or hinder) the development and maintenance of close, personal relationships.

Author(s)
Graham Bodie, Louisiana State University  -  

Co-Author(s)
Christopher C Gearhart, Louisiana State University  -  
Mr. Jonathan P Denham, Louisiana State University  -  
Andrea Vickery, Louisiana State University

The Relations Among Eysenck's Big Three, Emotional IQ, Taking Conflict Personally and the Big Three of Active-Empathic Listening

Presented During: Why a Voice is not Enough: Multiple Views of the Listener and Listening
Sponsor: International Listening Association
Sat, 11/19: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Bayside B - Fourth Floor

While listening has long been an area of multidisciplinary research, little empirical evidence exists to support what active listening is. The current study presents a multivariate individual difference model to address what constitutes an active listener. Participants (n = 113) completed the measure of Active-Empathic Listening, as well as measures of a variety of other personality characteristics. Results indicate that Emotional Intelligence is a strong indicator of each of the three subscales of Active-Empathic Listening, while neuroticism is an additional predictor of the responding and sensing subscales. Additionally, scores on dimensions of the scale measuring the personalization of conflict are strong predictors of all three dimensions of Active-Empathic Listening. The discussion section highlights how results of the current study add to the understanding of individual differences in personality and active listening.

Author(s)
Michelle Pence, Louisiana State University  -  

Co-Author(s)
Andrea Vickery, Louisiana State University 

Spoonfeeding at a Distance? Online Students Find their Voice and Ease Anxiety Interpreting Assignment Instructions

Presented During: The Student Voice: An Exploration of Unique Perspectives on ìVoiceî
Sponsor: Convention Theme Group
Sat, 11/19: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Salon 829 - Eighth Floor
 
Online graduate students have minimal opportunity to express their "voice" one-on-one with their professors. Anxiety results when students perceive their assignment instructions as ambiguous. At the graduate level, professors may resist "cookie-cutter" template style instructions that may limit creativity in essay assignments. Using the listening theory model Approach, Design, and Procedure, online graduate students can find their voice to effectively find assignment instruction meanings and the ability to construct question sets to obtain additional information.

Author(s)
Scott A. Kuehn, Clarion Univ of Pennsylvania 

The forum on listening ethics: A postmodern form for a postmodern field

Presented During: Why a Voice is not Enough: Multiple Views of the Listener and Listening
Sponsor: International Listening Association
Sat, 11/19: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Bayside B - Fourth Floor

As "an experiment in scholarly genres and the dialogic process of knowledge creation" the forum on the listening ethics published last year in the International Journal of Listening (IJL) highlights "points of intersection and of disjunction" between various perspectives on the issue (Beard, 2010). With the goal of continuing that conversation ñ and perhaps creating some knowledge in the (dialogic) process ñ I would like to put some of the ideas that arose of out the discussion into a more processed context by asking several basic questions: First, I want to look at the forum as a form of scholarship and ask how can one categorize it; second, I want to ask what its inclusion in one of top journals of the field of listening suggests about the field? On these points I contend that the forum represents a post-modern form of scholarship and that its inclusion in one of the field's main journals represents an attempt to demonstrate the value of the post-modernism that has become more visible in the field over the past two decades. Further, I contend that scholars in the field have noted and reacted to this post-modernism over the past two decades in the same way: by trying to rationalize it away to the point where it has little or no affect on the social-scientific paradigm that dominated the field for over 80 years. Finally, I would like to comment further on the content area of the forum: listening ethics; in short, I believe that although they were presented in what could be considered a post-modern form of scholarship, it did not meet its potential of demonstrating the value of postmodernism.

Author(s)
Molly Stoltz, Valdosta State Univ 

Listening to Diverse Student Voices in Faculty Development: An Exploration of Impact

Presented During: Why a Voice is not Enough: Multiple Views of the Listener and Listening
Sponsor: International Listening Association
Sat, 11/19: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Bayside B - Fourth Floor

In an innovative faculty development program, students of color and LBGTQ students met weekly for an entire semester to engage in faculty-facilitated "Diversity Dialogues." As an outcome of their dialogues, these students constructed student voice podcast tutorials and led face-to-face workshops for the campus teaching community. Given serious retention and climate issues for these populations, the goal of this program was to have faculty further understand and integrate diverse student perspectives into their classroom method and content. The key question of this exploration: Did the faculty members listen to student voices?

Author(s)
Lori J. Carrell, Univ of Wisconsin, Oshkosh 

Listening Beyond Language

Presented During: Finding the Voices of Nature: Listening Beyond Words
Sponsor: Environmental Communication Division
Sat, 11/19: 2:00 PM  - 3:15 PM
New Orleans Marriott
Room: Balcony I - Fourth Floor

This presentation explores the relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic communication as a way of bridging several dialectical tensions. One has to do with what has been called the material and non-material dialectic; the other with nature and culture. Following ethnographic studies of Blackfeet practices, the presentation examines how a particular kind of "listening," as a form of communication, can hold in view both material and non-material processes, natural and cultural dimensions of life. Implications are drawn for communication theory, cultural discourse analysis, and environmental communication.

Author(s)
Donal A. Carbaugh, Univ of Massachusetts, Amherst 

Helpful and challenging support encounters in the aftermath of HPV infection and diagnosis

Presented During: Defining and Predicting Social Support in Relationships
Sponsor: Interpersonal Communication Division
Sat, 11/19: 2:00 PM  - 3:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Grand Ballroom B - Fifth Floor

Infection and diagnosis with HPV creates significant support needs, yet the support experiences and evaluations of women with HPV remain unexplored. This study identified supportive communication behavior perceived as helpful or problematic for women with HPV. Interviews with 25 participants revealed that women find it helpful when supportive others: (a) provide reassurance, information, and validation; (b) attend appointments; (c) facilitate reappraisals; and, (d) listen. Findings also highlighted support challenges, such as a lack of empathy and validation. The discussion focuses on explanations for and implications of variation in enacted support quality for women with HPV and others managing chronic illnesses.

Author(s)
Kami A Kosenko, North Carolina State University  -  

Co-Author(s)
Elizabeth A Craig, North Carolina State University  -  
Jacquelyn Harvey, North Carolina State University 

Hearing Location: Listening and Power in Geographic Locations

Presented During: The Cityís Voice, Speaking Loudly: Space, Place, Identity
Sponsor: Ethnography Division
Sat, 11/19: 12:30 PM  - 1:45 PM
New Orleans Marriott
Room: Preservation Hall 4 - Second Floor

In her book, Infinite City, Rebecca Solnit creates maps and stories of San Francisco that juxtapose different historical moments or themes resulting in performative realizations of what Solnit refers to as the "inexhaustibility of a city" (1-9). In this paper I use a similar approach to layered or collaged maps and stories of a geographic location in an attempt to theorize the relationships between macro-structures and micro-practices as they inform my geographic location (Carbondale, Illinois) as a researcher and performer. Instead of cartography, I use listening as my method of coming to know a geographic location. Listening to, with, and from a location is an embodied and potentially critical way of coming to understand the infinite and inexhaustible relationships amongst researchers, histories, and geographic locations.

Author(s)
Chris McRae, Southern Illinois Univ, Carbondale 

Evidence for a Hierarchical Structure of Implicit Theories of Competence

Presented During: Building and Extending Research in Communication Apprehension and Competence
Sponsor: Communication Apprehension and Competence Division
Sun, 11/20: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Salon 816 - Eighth Floor

The three most prominent terms used in the extant competency literature are communication competence, social skills, and listening competence. Most accounts treat these terms individually with little conceptual overlap other than passing mentions of how scholars use terms interchangeably. This manuscript enters the conversation by exploring each of these constructs as implicit theories that are used to form judgments of others in social settings. In particular, two studies explore the relationships among communicative competence, social skills, and listening competence and various trait-level attributes that are purportedly implied by each. Results from Study 1 show that very few attributes are uniquely related to any one implicit theory, whereas Study 2 demonstrates that communicative competence appears to be the most central trait and, thus, is most likely used when forming judgments of others. The discussion focuses on what these studies add to the competency literature and how future research can continue to explore implicit competency theories.

Author(s)
Graham Bodie, Louisiana State University  -  

Co-Author(s)
Michelle Pence, Louisiana State University  -  
Michael Rold, Louisiana State University  -  
M. Daniel Chapman, Louisiana State University  -  
Jamie Lejune, Louisiana State University  -  
Lisa Anzalone, Louisiana State University 

ìHurts So Goodî: How College Students Experience Pain From Listening to Popular Music

Presented During: Lives and/as Texts
Sponsor: Ethnography Division
Sun, 11/20: 9:30 AM  - 10:45 AM
New Orleans Marriott
Room: Preservation Hall 4 - Second Floor

Much research about popular music fails to examine listeners' articulations of their emotional responses to music. The present study strives to accurately represent the vernacular voices of listeners and provide entrance for them into the academic debate about music and its emotional potential. It also contributes an understanding of how college-aged listeners ascribe emotional meaning to music via its verbal articulation. Finally, it helps advance our understanding of an important (and perhaps underused) ethnographic method, phenomenology.

Author(s)
Scott H Church, Univ of Nebraska, Lincoln 

Time to Think Like a Mountain and Act Like a Rock: The Fierce Urgency of Now

Presented During: Engaging Diverse Voices in Land Management Contexts: Theoretical and Practical Investigations of Environmental Discourses on Wilderness and Development
Sponsor: Environmental Communication Division
Sun, 11/20: 9:30 AM  - 10:45 AM
New Orleans Marriott
Room: Jackson - Fifth Floor

In debates about wilderness, how to give voice to the nonhuman, from other animals to wilderness itself, is a vexing philosophical and political problem. In this essay, I explore the issues involved in listening to nonhuman others. Acknowledging the fact that the more-than-human world provides the only foundation for continued human existence, I argue for a radical restructuring of environmental debates that not only listens to but privileges the interests of nonhuman others.

Author(s)
Kevin DeLuca, University of Utah 

Professional Communication in Courtrooms: American and Finnish Listening Concepts

Presented During: Dilemmas in Applied Legal Communication
Sponsor: Communication and Law Division
Sun, 11/20: 9:30 AM  - 10:45 AM
Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Estherwood - Fourth Floor

To date, only the visible expressions of listening have been studied in legal communication context instead of the actual processes of listening. Therefore, the primary purpose for this research was to examine what kind of meanings legal professionals, Finnish prosecutors and American attorneys, perceive to be related to the concept of listening. The other goal of the study was to examine the cultural differences in those concepts. The Listening Concepts Inventory (LCI), an instrument developed by Imhof and Janusik (2006), was used for analyzing listening concepts through semantic associations. The participant sample of 210 people consisted of 96 Finnish prosecutors and 114 American attorneys. The results of factor analyses suggested that there are cultural differences in listening concepts. Among the American participants, listening concepts covered both content-oriented and people-oriented actions, emphasized the relationship building aspect, and listening was considered to be a co-participatory event. The participants seem to combine multi-dimensional cognitive processes with listening and their professional position as critical communicators include both confrontational and co-operative patterns. The listening concepts of Finnish participants, however, focused on the content of the message and listening was seen as an individual action, so the relationship aspect was not emphasized. They seem to understand listening as a means to organize information critically, and therefore, their listening focuses on subjective, cognitive processing of information. Some of these differences in listening concepts between these two cultural groups can be explained through the differences in the prevailing speech cultures and professional communication contexts.
Keywords: listening, courtroom communication, concepts of listening

Author(s)
Sanna Ala-Kortesmaa, University of Tampere 

Sessions

Does Listening Need A Voice? Implications of "Listening" as Metaphor

Sponsor: International Listening Association
Fri, 11/18: 8:00 AM  - 9:15 AM

Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Bayside C - Fourth Floor
Listening is frequently used to describe nonaurally based communication. What implications does such use have on How we "voice" listening? What it means to listen? How we research listening? This panel discussion explores Listening as a metaphor in differing contexts and how its use can clarify and cloud what it means to "Listen."
Chair(s)
Debra L. Worthington, Auburn University  -  

Presenter(s)
Margaret Fitch-Hauser, Auburn Univ  -  
Andrea Vickery, Louisiana State University  -  

Sponsor/Co-Sponsors
International Listening Association

Every Voice Needs a Listening Ear: Teaching Listening as a Critical Life Competency
Sponsor: Convention Theme Group
Sat, 11/19: 9:30 AM  - 10:45 AM

New Orleans Marriott
Room: Mardi Gras C - Third Floor
Every voice needs a listening ear whether that voice belongs to a friend, a teacher, or a potential employer. Listening is a critical communication competency. This short course is designed to provide instructors with the resources necessary to effectively teach listening theory and practice. Participants will receive complementary copies of the Allyn & Bacon listening text, Listening Processes, Functions & Competency, as well as sample syllabi, assignments, rubrics, and class activities.
Chair(s)
Debra L. Worthington, Auburn University  -  

Co-Chair(s)
Margaret Fitch-Hauser, Auburn Univ  -  

Sponsor/Co-Sponsors
Convention Theme Group

Why a Voice is not Enough: Multiple Views of the Listener and Listening
Sponsor: International Listening Association
Sat, 11/19: 11:00 AM  - 12:15 PM

Sheraton New Orleans
Room: Bayside B - Fourth Floor
Communication does not exist in a vacuum, and neither does speaking. Join this paper session for diverse views of the importance of the listener from a quantitative, qualitative, and postmodern perspectives.
Chair(s)
Molly Stoltz, Valdosta State Univ  -  

Sponsor/Co-Sponsors
International Listening Association

Finding the Voices of Nature: Listening Beyond Words
Sponsor: Environmental Communication Division
Sat, 11/19: 2:00 PM  - 3:15 PM

New Orleans Marriott
Room: Balcony I - Fourth Floor
In keeping with the conference theme of "voice," this panel offers alternative approaches to comprehending the voices of nature in ways that do not privilege human symbolic codes. Each participant provides a different model for listening to nature, different conceptualizations of "voice," different visions for human engagement with other-than-human, and different possibilities for future environmental communication scholarship. A moderated audience/panel discussion follows the presentations.
Chair(s)
Tarla Rai Peterson, Texas A & M University  -  

Sponsor/Co-Sponsors
Environmental Communication Division
Environmental Communication Division