reflective listening
{{Short description|Communication strategy}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2012}}
Reflective listening is a communication strategy used to better understand a speaker's idea by offering your understanding of their idea back to the speaker in order to confirm that the idea has been understood correctly.{{Cite journal |last1=Braillon |first1=Alain |last2=Taiebi |first2=Françoise |date=2020-09-01 |title=Practicing "Reflective listening" is a mandatory prerequisite for empathy |journal=Patient Education and Counseling |language=en |volume=103 |issue=9 |pages=1866–1867 |doi=10.1016/j.pec.2020.03.024 |pmid=32487470 |s2cid=216209760 |issn=0738-3991|doi-access=free }} It is a more specific strategy than general methods of active listening.
Form of empathy
Reflective listening arose from Carl Rogers's school of client-centered therapy in counseling theory.
It is a practice of expressing genuine understanding in response to a speaker as opposed to word-for-word regurgitation. Reflective listening takes practice.{{Cite web |last1=Rogers |first1=Carl R. |last2=Farson |first2=Richard E. |date=1987 |title=Active Listening |url=https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/32230277/Rogers_Farson_-_Active_Listening-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1669153506&Signature=OGoc2qOfa4gw398EkGe41Ll3RC3D1Qr7G6R73tJhKazo7dD~J9L7h3tzgT0i2aAAiGO-PKjg~jlfN3GIYVQv9WYKtfaGuVcD80p07bW7Yi7gbhIWRW-HvtTEU7J88kzquM9gvT6yWLHbFXKX3~dkQpBNxmy0YcbY5do5rxooMmiEp-E5ZljnsjeXCvjUWYwjmDzQKjnO3FfLih22BGBY2FHYdVASsrshLJJoSgO~Hl44M1GIUPqsH7ZF06Ee-ZuRRKEELTph51CaKtd~Qq6w-mqJUzSaJUFwtzyvXurAaoyKPb5XxkvjisNj7f-dWAgwFrNbBL8SYO-PLD94iJV2HQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |archive-date=}} Reflective listening is one of the skills of motivational interviewing, a style of communication that works collaboratively to encourage change.{{Cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Barbara |last2=Seabury |first2=Robin |date=2001 |title=When is it motivational interviewing? |url=http://miwisewoman.org/pdfs/2018annual_meeting/MotivationInterviewingBarbMiller.pdf}} Failure to understand the needs of the person speaking can result in errors in work, such as problems being unresolved, or decisions not being quickly made.{{Cite journal |last1=Rautalinko |first1=Erik |last2=Lisper |first2=Hans-Olof |date=Spring 2004 |title=Effects of Training Reflective Listening in a Corporate Setting |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B%3AJOBU.0000016712.36043.4f |journal=Journal of Business and Psychology |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=281–299|doi=10.1023/B:JOBU.0000016712.36043.4f |s2cid=144777406 }}
Additional application
Reflective listening has been found to be effective in a therapeutic setting.
Burke, P. and Hohman, M. (2014). Encouraging Self-Reflection in the Reflective Listening Process. In Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness (eds R.A. Bean, S.D. Davis and M.P. Davey).
A qualitative study of students using song lyrics to practice their reflective listening skills suggested that, according to participants, this allowed for a deeper understanding of the emotional content of the practice experience.{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Eric |last2=Pereira |first2=Jennifer |date=2016 |title=Using Song Lyrics to Enhance Counselor Trainee Perceptions of their Reflective Listening Skills. Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision |url=https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=jcps |journal=Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision |volume=8}}
Reflective listening in open-ended dialogue
Skilled communicators frequently echo and restate their conversation partner's words, particularly when reacting to emotional narratives or when they are uncertain of the answer. Researchers Justin Dieter, Tian Wang, Arun Tejasvi Chaganty, Gabor Angeli, and Angel X. Chang have presented a new challenge and accompanying dataset designed to enable chatbots to replicate this behavior by echoing and rephrasing user inquiries to convey empathy or acknowledge ignorance.{{Cite journal |last1=Dieter |first1=Justin |last2=Wang |first2=Tian |last3=Gabor |first3=Angeli |last4=Chang |first4=Angel X. |last5=Tejasvi Chaganty |first5=Arun |date=June 30, 2024 |title=Mimic and Rephrase: Reflective Listening in Open-Ended Dialogue |url=https://aclanthology.org/K19-1037/ |journal=Association for Computational Linguistics |language=English |publication-date=November 3–4, 2019 |pages=393–403|doi=10.18653/v1/K19-1037 }} The authors examine the characteristics of effective rephrasing based on qualitative criteria and assess three different response generation models: a rule-based system that is sensitive to syntax, a neural model using a sequence-to-sequence LSTM with attention (S2SA), and an enhanced version of this neural model with a copy mechanism (S2SA+C). Human assessments indicate that both the S2SA+C and rule-based models produce responses that are similar in quality to those generated by humans. Furthermore, the deployment of S2SA+C in a live customer service environment suggests that this task of generating responses is a valuable addition to the capabilities of real-world conversational agents.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal | last1 = Arnold | first1 = Kyle | year = 2014 | title = Behind the Mirror: Reflective Listening and its Tain in the Work of Carl Rogers | url = https://www.academia.edu/8874100 | journal = The Humanistic Psychologist | volume = 42 | issue = 4| pages = 354–369 | doi=10.1080/08873267.2014.913247}}
- {{cite journal |doi=10.1177/1046878197281002 |title=In Conversation: Transforming Experience into Learning |year=1997 |last1=Baker |first1=A. C. |last2=Jensen |first2=P. J. |last3=Kolb |first3=D. A. |journal=Simulation & Gaming |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=6–12|s2cid=143770463 }}
- Fisher, Dalmar (1981). [http://www.analytictech.com/mb119/reflecti.htm Communication in organizations]. St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company.
- {{cite journal |id={{INIST|3863920}} |doi=10.2466/pr0.1993.73.3f.1147 |title=Nondirective Counseling Interventions with Schizophrenics |year=1993 |last1=Gerwood |first1=Joseph B. |journal=Psychological Reports |volume=73 |issue=3f |pages=1147–51 |pmid=8115566|s2cid=45988497 }}
- Katz, Neil H. and John W. Lawyer (1985). Communication and conflict resolution skills. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt.
- Kotzman, Anne (1984). Reflective listening. Kew, Victoria: Institute of Early Childhood Development.
- Rogers, Carl (1951). Client-Centered Therapy: its current practice, implications, and theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- {{cite journal |doi=10.1002/1520-6696(197701)13:1<78::AID-JHBS2300130109>3.0.CO;2-9 |title=William S. Sahakian. History and systems of psychology. New York: Wiley, 1975. Xviii + 494 pp. $19.50; paper, $8.95. (Paul T. Mountjoy) |year=1977 |last1=Sahakian |first1=William S. |journal=Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=78–81}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724224503/http://www.nhchc.org/Curriculum/module3/H5ReflectiveListening.pdf Reflective Listening] — One-page summary used by National Health Care for the Homeless Council (currently under construction as of January 12, 2013)