Listening as a Goal-Directed Activity

Listening styles are a frequently studied construct in the listening literature and are a ubiquitous aspect of interpersonal textbooks. Treatments of listening styles typically consider them as static tendencies utilized irrespective of situational demands. This article extends work on listening styles by questioning if styles are habitual ways of processing information or if they are goal-driven behaviors influenced by interaction context. We predict that styles vary according to the nature of the situation. Participants (N = 382), comprised of 269 female and 102 males who were primarily White and reported a mean age of 20, provided accounts of listening interactions and completed assessments of conversational goals and listening styles utilized during these encounters. Findings indicate listening styles change according to demands of the interaction as a function of empathy, depth, and perspective taking. The relevancy of these characteristics is attributed to the relational quality of the narratives provided by participants. Styles seem to represent cognitive schemas people hold for situational listening in that they are purposefully deployed according to the demands of the interaction and goals of the listener.