{"id":31651,"date":"2021-04-09T15:16:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T19:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=31651"},"modified":"2021-04-12T20:01:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T00:01:02","slug":"active-listening-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Active Listening in Communication"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is active listening? Why is active listening important in communication?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Active listening is an invaluable communication skill. In simple terms, active listening is listening to understand, not to respond. Active listening does not only help to understand the other person&#8217;s perspective but it&#8217;s also a great way to foster connection through disclosure; when you actively listen, people share more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-tips\/\">active listening in communication<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Good Communication Needs Active Listening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Active listening forces the listener to put their ego aside and listen intently with the sole intention to understand the other party&#8217;s message. While they may speak up occasionally to ask a clarifying question or offer guidance, active listeners keep their focus on the other person. In contrast, constantly thinking of what you\u2019re going to say next prevents you from taking in and processing the words of the other person.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you actively listen, the other person feels heard and supported as they express their concerns and fears. The most effective active listeners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Make the speaker feel secure.<\/li><li>Come at the conversation from a supportive stance.<\/li><li>Ask <em>occasional<\/em> questions that gently challenge the speaker to dig deeper into an issue or obstacle.<\/li><li>Make <em>occasional<\/em> suggestions to lead the speaker down alternative paths.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Power of Active Listening<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Carl Marci developed a method through which he could scientifically track the connection between people via galvanic skin response (an indicator of emotional response determined by a change in electrical resistance in the skin). In his experiments, Marci noticed moments in which the responses in the skin of both the speaker and the listener would sync up. He called these moments concordances. Concordances typically occurred when one of the individuals involved in the conversation stopped speaking and put all of their energy into listening to the other party.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a specific example, Marci recorded a session between himself and his therapist in which he spoke about his experience proposing to his then-girlfriend. While Marci spoke, his therapist only responded in affirmative nods, smiles, and noises. Despite his lack of speech, the data showed that the session contained several moments of concordance. Instead of speaking, his therapist listened. Rather than interrupt or intervene, he tried to process and understand Marci\u2019s point of view. Through active listening, Marci\u2019s therapist connected to Marci without saying a word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is active listening? Why is active listening important in communication? Active listening is an invaluable communication skill. In simple terms, active listening is listening to understand, not to respond. Active listening does not only help to understand the other person&#8217;s perspective but it&#8217;s also a great way to foster connection through disclosure; when you actively listen, people share more. Read about the importance of active listening in communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-31651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","tag-the-culture-code","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Active Listening in Communication - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Active listening is an invaluable communication skill. In simple terms, active listening is listening to understand, not to reply. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Active Listening in Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Active listening is an invaluable communication skill. In simple terms, active listening is listening to understand, not to reply. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-09T19:16:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-13T00:01:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how-to-listen-crucial-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Active Listening in Communication\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-09T19:16:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-13T00:01:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\"},\"wordCount\":401,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how-to-listen-crucial-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Culture Code\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/\",\"name\":\"The Power of Active Listening in Communication - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/active-listening-communication\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how-to-listen-crucial-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-09T19:16:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-13T00:01:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Active listening is an invaluable communication skill. 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