Listening in Interpersonal Communication - Essay Example

The activity of listening offers the participant various options such as empathic and objective listening, nonjudgmental and critical listening, surface depth listening, polite and impolite listening, and finally, active and inactive listening. All of these options are used during a given moment in time. Each type of listening activity is dependent upon the existing conditions that may distract the attention of the listener and thus require an adjustment in his listening attention abilities.

            The culture and gender of the listeners have a direct effect on their ability to effectively listen to their peers. Admittedly, people never listen to each other the same way, each person listens to and responds to others in unique methods that are dictated by his ability to listen. The culture of a person has preconditioned him to listen to his peers in a certain way and it is this method that he will use regardless of the differing culture of the next person he listens to. This is almost the same reason why men and women have different ways of listening to others and each other. Women tend to listen to share feelings and establish closer relationships with their peers. Men on the other hand use listening as a method by which they can flaunt their natural or artificial abilities with their peers. Therefore, the focus of man is mostly on sharing information. Women on the other hand seek to agree amongst themselves while discussing and listening to one another.  Therefore, the two sexes have distinct listening styles that are geared toward their gender-specific roles and expectations within a given society.