< REVISED > Blog Post 2 ~ Evaluating Listening Skills & Non-Verbal Behavior

Task: Observe an interaction between two or more people, focusing on their use (or lack) of active listening and/or non-verbal skills. Describe the encounter in as much detail as possible. Briefly evaluate the interaction in terms of how their listening and/or nonverbal communication might have been influenced by culture, gender or age.

LISTEN Diagram

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Different Types of Non-verbal Communication

Active listening is a communication technique which is used by anyone of us regardless if it is during group work or when solving conflicts. It requires the listener to fully concentrate, understand, respond and remember what was mentioned during the conversation. It is also a skill that can be acquired and developed through time with practice. Likewise, for non-verbal communication, it is defined as a communication skill without any spoken words. Non-verbal communication can be categorized into three more common categories: aesthetic, physical and symbols. These categories include the different form of arts such as music, or body movements and religious or personal status reasons respectively.

An example of using both active listening and non-verbal communication that I came across is when parents are communicating with their children. For instance, when the parents are doing housework at home and suddenly the child started crying out of a sudden. When that happens, the parents will tend to go forward to ask the child what happened. While asking them, some non-verbal messages which include: making eye contact, putting down everything on hand and lowering to the height of the child will be seen. With these non-verbal messages, it enhances the message that is being brought across to the child by showing that you care for them and wanting to help them in any way possible. When active listening is used by parents, it also allows the child to know that their parents are interested in what they are saying and would want to hear more from them based on the non-verbal messages that are being sent out. Subsequently, when the parent starts listening to their children at a relatively young age, their parent-child relationship tightens. Another way of strengthening the parent-child relationship is for parents to set aside time to communicate with their children. This is important for the children during their growing up journey as they will feel that their parents care for them. Therefore, with a tighter bond between the two generations, it allows the children to be more open up in their daily lives to their parents while having conversations.

In general, this may not be the case in every country due to the different culture that they are brought up in. In Singapore, most parents have to work from day till night in order to provide their child with a better living condition. Thus, not all parents are able to fork out time from their daily work to sit down and chat with their children. In addition, it may affect the bond between them as children will tend to keep things to themselves instead of sharing with their parents so as not to add on to their worries. To conclude, isn’t it time for us to start practicing these skills every day in order to improve on our daily communication with the people around us since both skills work so closely with each other?

📖 Quotes of the Day 📖
"The art of conversation lies in listening."

~ Malcolm Forbes ~

"The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said."

~ Peter F. Drunker ~

Different types of non-verbal communication & LISTEN image taken from:

https://communicationblog06.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/non-verbal-communciation-graphic.png?w=640

http://www.faculty.londondeanery.ac.uk/e-learning/appraisal/appraisal-04.gif

Reflective Summary ~ Emotional Intelligence

Task: Write a reflective summary of what you have learned about the role of emotional intelligence in interpersonal communication.

http://www.awinningpersonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/shutterstock_129478028.jpg

A: Emotional intelligence is the ability that each one of us should be able to recognize and validly reason with different emotions to enhance our thinking. There are five main components of emotional intelligence that we have learned which include self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy and last but not least social skills. Using self-awareness as an example, it allows us to better understand ourselves on our moods as we become more aware of what is happening around us and also on how our moods may have an effect on the people around us. I have also learned about the six seconds model which have three important pursuits mainly: know yourself, choose yourself and give yourself. With this model, it allows me to think about the “what”, “how” and “why” type of questions before reacting to any situations.

📖 Quote of the Day 📖

“There is no separation of mind and emotions; emotions, thinking, and learning are all linked.” 

~ Eric Jensen ~