_________ listening can also be called pseudo listening.

• Maggie Franz

  Maggie has taught communication and rhetoric at the university level for 8 years. She has a PhD in communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she specialized in legal rhetoric and critical race theory.

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• Instructor Kat Kadian-Baumeyer

  Kat has a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Management and teaches Business courses.

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• Expert Contributor Jennifer Levitas

  Jennifer has a Ph.D. in Psychology. She's taught multiple college-level psychology courses and been published in several academic journals.

  View bio

What are the five major types of listening? Learn the different types of listening, their evaluate and compare their distinct characteristics and see various styles of listening. Updated: 07/24/2021

What Are the Types of Listening?

Listening entails more than just hearing, which is the physiological process by which soundwaves hit the eardrums and send signals to the brain. According to Communications Scholar Ronald Adler, listening is the interactive process of receiving and responding to other people's messages. In this way, listening is not automatic or innate; it is a communication skill that can be learned and improved.

People receive and respond to messages in various ways, depending on their listening style. Because listening is a cognitive and social process and not just a physiological process, people focus on or orient their listening towards a specific goal or object to filter out the noise and reduce information overload.

Scholars have identified four listening styles:

1. People Oriented Listening: These listeners pay attention to the message to understand the speaker, not necessarily the message itself.
2. Action Oriented Listening: Also referred to as task-oriented listening, occurs when the listener seeks out the speaker's wants. This listener is looking for what to do once the speaker has finished talking.
3. Content Oriented Listening: These listeners pay the most attention to the message. They tend to analyze it and see if it makes sense.
4. Time Oriented Listening: Listeners do not pay attention to the speaker, the message, or the action, and instead the amount of time consumed by listening. Time-oriented listeners can be impatient and are likely to tell a slow speaker to "spit it out" or "get on with it."

In addition to listening styles, people also differ in what type of listening they use to receive and respond to messages. Scholars have identified five main types of listening:

• pseudo
• appreciative
• empathetic
• comprehensive
• critical listening

Let's face it; we hear a lot of noise all day. At work, in school or on the streets, there is a constant barrage of chatter going on. Sometimes, it is difficult to absorb all of the information thrown at us.

In fact, it takes skill to differentiate the information and choose the appropriate listening style. Hearing is uncontrollable. Listening takes a special knack.

Lucky for us, there are several listening styles we can employ, depending on the type of message we receive:

• Pseudo listening
• Appreciative listening
• Empathetic listening
• Comprehensive listening
• Critical listening

It all comes down to our ears and our brain! Noise moves through our ears, sends a signal to our brain and our brain tries to make sense of it.

Let's check out a few ways in which we actually receive the messages.

• Video
• Quiz
• Course

Pseudo Listening

The prefix pseudo means to pretend or fake. Pseudo listening means to pretend to listen to someone without actually doing the work of paying attention to what the person is saying. Pseudo listeners use familiar social cues to respond to a speaker, such as nods and affirmatives like "yea" and "uh-huh," which disguise the listener is not listening. The problem with pseudo listening is that the listener cannot retain any of the speaker's information, resulting in pseudo listening being a bit of a misnomer.

In contrast, authentic listening is mindful and entails an interactive process of receiving, or decoding, a message and responding to it. If someone is not paying enough attention to decode or interpret a message, that person is not listening.

Appreciative Listening

Appreciative listening involves listening for the sake of enjoyment and not necessarily to understand or analyze and can be people or content oriented. For example, people-oriented listeners might use appreciative listening when enjoying how a speaker delivers their speech. Whereas, content-oriented listeners who use appreciative listening might find comfort in the words of the message rather than delivery. People spend much time engaging in appreciative listening.

Consider the following examples:

• Listening to enjoyable music
• Watching a movie or a comedian, causing laughter
• Listening to someone speak because they have a soothing voice
• Relaxing by listening to the sounds of nature
• Re-watching a movie or tv show only to enjoy

Enjoying music is an example of appreciative listening.

Factors in Appreciative Listening

Several factors are influencing when people use appreciative listening as opposed to other types of listening.

A few of these factors include:

• Presentation: When a presentation is appealing, people are more likely to engage in appreciative listening. For example, a song with a melody is more likely to elicit appreciative listening than an industrial noise song that uses repetitive high-pitched sirens.
• Perception: A person's subjective perceptions influence whether they appreciate a particular message. For instance, a fan of industrial noise music is likely to listen to high-pitched sounds of sirens appreciatively and actively seek out this kind of music.
• Past Experience: Memories and past experiences can prime someone to engage in appreciative listening. A fan of melodic music might appreciate industrial noise if they associate pleasant memories with the sounds.

Empathetic Listening

Empathetic listening involves receiving a message mindfully and with concern for the other person's point of view and responding to the message with their viewpoint in mind. This kind of listening tends to be people-oriented because the listener's goal is to understand and empathize with the point of view of the speaker.

Consider the following example:

Karla apologizes to her friend Megan for missing her birthday party. Karla claims that she missed the party because she was overwhelmed with work and forgot to mark it on her calendar. Megan engages in empathetic listening when she focuses on Karla's reasons for missing the party by considering Karla's stressed state of mind and how easily it is to lose track of time when distracted.

Pseudo Listening

So, your cubicle partner is droning on about how her cat has the cutest spots on his face and likes to chase his tail and eats only canned tuna and on and on. You nod, smile and occasionally say something agreeable.

In reality, you are probably pseudo listening, and this is pretending to listen but not really absorbing anything from the conversation. Believe it or not, we do this for many reasons. For the co-worker's cat story, perhaps you just didn't want to put forth the effort into listening.

Sometimes, the information we receive is something we just don't want to hear. If you are not a football fan, you may not appreciate the sports segment on the evening news. If you enjoy sports, you'd be likely to listen to game results in a much different way.

Appreciative Listening

Appreciative listening happens when we enjoy the message, like listening to your favorite song.

There are a few reasons we practice appreciative listening. The presentation itself may be appealing to us. Nobody wants to listen to someone who grates on our nerves. So, if the presentation is appealing, we will likely relish the experience more.

Our perceptions have much to do with appreciative listening. Some people are just not big fans of opera. They may feel it's too dramatic or complicated. That perception may change if introduced to a more modern style of opera.

Sometimes past experiences affect listening. A song from childhood may bring back pleasant memories, making it more likely that we will appreciate listening to the tune again. If a not-so-pleasant message is sent, it may require a more compassionate listening skill.

Empathetic Listening

Bad news is just a part of life. When a friend shares something unpleasant with you, empathetic listening is probably the best way to go. It involves emotionally connecting with another person using compassion.

Don't mistake it for sympathy. Empathy is different. It is about understanding another person, seeing the situation through their eyes. When we listen with empathy, we are less interested in facts. Our goal is to grasp the situation as they feel it.

• I can see how this would upset you.
• Do you want to talk about your pain?
• Tell me about your pain.
• Uh-huh, it must be difficult to have a broken leg.

In other words, be attentive to the speaker. Take an active approach. If words do not seem necessary, use non-verbal cues to let the person speaking know that you understand their situation.

When the message we are receiving is informative, we take a different approach.

Comprehensive Listening

When your favorite celebrity chef is making a recipe you have been dying to try, you are probably all ears. You hang on every step, trying hard not to miss one second of the demonstration. This is comprehensive listening, and we do this when we are listening to instructions, directions or anything that represents a process.

Types of Listening

Let's face it; we hear a lot of noise all day. At work, in school or on the streets, there is a constant barrage of chatter going on. Sometimes, it is difficult to absorb all of the information thrown at us.

In fact, it takes skill to differentiate the information and choose the appropriate listening style. Hearing is uncontrollable. Listening takes a special knack.

Lucky for us, there are several listening styles we can employ, depending on the type of message we receive:

• Pseudo listening
• Appreciative listening
• Empathetic listening
• Comprehensive listening
• Critical listening

It all comes down to our ears and our brain! Noise moves through our ears, sends a signal to our brain and our brain tries to make sense of it.

Let's check out a few ways in which we actually receive the messages.

Pseudo Listening

So, your cubicle partner is droning on about how her cat has the cutest spots on his face and likes to chase his tail and eats only canned tuna and on and on. You nod, smile and occasionally say something agreeable.

In reality, you are probably pseudo listening, and this is pretending to listen but not really absorbing anything from the conversation. Believe it or not, we do this for many reasons. For the co-worker's cat story, perhaps you just didn't want to put forth the effort into listening.

Sometimes, the information we receive is something we just don't want to hear. If you are not a football fan, you may not appreciate the sports segment on the evening news. If you enjoy sports, you'd be likely to listen to game results in a much different way.

Appreciative Listening

Appreciative listening happens when we enjoy the message, like listening to your favorite song.

There are a few reasons we practice appreciative listening. The presentation itself may be appealing to us. Nobody wants to listen to someone who grates on our nerves. So, if the presentation is appealing, we will likely relish the experience more.

Our perceptions have much to do with appreciative listening. Some people are just not big fans of opera. They may feel it's too dramatic or complicated. That perception may change if introduced to a more modern style of opera.

Sometimes past experiences affect listening. A song from childhood may bring back pleasant memories, making it more likely that we will appreciate listening to the tune again. If a not-so-pleasant message is sent, it may require a more compassionate listening skill.

Empathetic Listening

Bad news is just a part of life. When a friend shares something unpleasant with you, empathetic listening is probably the best way to go. It involves emotionally connecting with another person using compassion.

Don't mistake it for sympathy. Empathy is different. It is about understanding another person, seeing the situation through their eyes. When we listen with empathy, we are less interested in facts. Our goal is to grasp the situation as they feel it.

• I can see how this would upset you.
• Do you want to talk about your pain?
• Tell me about your pain.
• Uh-huh, it must be difficult to have a broken leg.

In other words, be attentive to the speaker. Take an active approach. If words do not seem necessary, use non-verbal cues to let the person speaking know that you understand their situation.

When the message we are receiving is informative, we take a different approach.

Comprehensive Listening

When your favorite celebrity chef is making a recipe you have been dying to try, you are probably all ears. You hang on every step, trying hard not to miss one second of the demonstration. This is comprehensive listening, and we do this when we are listening to instructions, directions or anything that represents a process.

• Activities
• FAQs

Types of Listening

Activity 1:

You learned about five different types of listening styles in this lesson—pseudo-, appreciative, empathetic, comprehensive, and critical. Do you think that you have a typical listening style? Do you generally default to one or two of these types? Do you use different types of listening with different people? Write a reflective journal entry on the type of listening in which you generally engage.

Activity 2:

List all five types of listening on a piece of paper. Reflect back on the last week of your life, especially your interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and others. Think of a specific occurrence of each of the different types of listening that you have used in the past week. Write down the circumstances under which you have used each type, and why you think you used that type of listening in each case.

Activity 3:

Do you feel like you are a good listener most of the time, or do you often find yourself "tuning out" other people, thinking your own thoughts while someone else is talking, or scrolling through your phone? What type of listening in yourself would you like to increase? What type would you like to decrease? Develop a two to three paragraph plan or strategy for yourself so that you can use your new knowledge about and understanding of listening to improve your own listening skills.

Why appreciative listening is important?

Appreciative listening is important for mental and emotional health. Since appreciative listening is listening for the sake of enjoyment, engaging in this kind of behavior improves mood and gives pleasant feelings.

What are the 4 types of listening?

• Appreciative listening involves listening for the sake of enjoyment, such as listening to a favorite song.
• Empathetic listening is a people-oriented type of listening where focus is placed on understanding the speaker and his or her point of view.
• Comprehensive listening is a content-oriented type of listening where the listener focuses on making sense of the message.
• Critical listening occurs when one listens for sake of analyzing, critiquing, and making judgements about the speaker or the message.

Which of the following is an example of appreciative listening?

Appreciative listening involves receiving and responding to messages for the sake of enjoyment. An example of appreciative listening would be listening to someone because he or she has a soothing voice.

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