Ineffective Listening
Why are people such poor listeners when it is such an important skill in developing and maintaining relationships? First, there is the habit of "tuning out," which involves the processes of selective attention and selective perception. You hear what you want to hear and screen out what you don't. An example is:
Wife: "I feel sorry for Janet. I went next door to see her this afternoon and...well, you know I told you what happened to her last week."
Husband, not looking up, busy eating: "Did you? What happened, I don't remember."
Or, on a Friday afternoon: Employer: "Do you have that report written yet? I said in our meeting on Monday that it must be mailed by 5 o'clock today."
Employee: "Oh, oh, I don't remember you saying anything about that report. I must have forgotten."
Both parties are guilty of selective listening, because each had tuned the other out and discounted the importance of the message. Because neither was listening to what the other was saying, they missed out on an opportunity to strengthen their relationship. If the husband had listened to his wife's anxieties and concern about Janet's problems, and if the employee had recognized the importance of having the report completed, both would have had a better understanding of each other's position. Since it is estimated that the average person spends 45 percent of his waking hours listening to someone, no wonder we tune out what we don't want or don't need to hear.
The second reason for poor listening is physiological; that is, people listen about five to ten times as fast as they speak. In the time it takes the speaker to say 100 words, the listener has the capacity to hear 500 to 1,000 words. So, while you are talking, the other person is listening with only a fraction of the capacity for attention. The rest of that person's mind impatiently used the extra capacity for other things--to plan the next day's work; to fantasize about their future; to think of an excuse for not being home for dinner on time; to reminisce about a vacation, etc. One of the keys to effective listening is to use this excess mind capacity to constantly analyze what is being said, instead of daydreaming or letting your mind wander.
The third reason is the sheer impact of the stimuli from the outside world. People are bombarded with literally thousands of different messages each hour, and the volume of "noise" in their communication network makes effective listening difficult. According to experts, the average person speaks 12,500 words per day, and if that is multiplied by five or more persons in their immediate work or family environment, it is no wonder people get tuned out.