Critical Listening
Techniques > Listening >
Critical Listening
Critical listening is a rational process of evaluating arguments
put forward by others.
The focus of criticism may be either or both of the subject matter
being discussed or the logical structure of the argument being proposed.
Subject-matter
Critical listening may be based on the subject-matter being talked
about and assumes the listener is sufficiently expert in the subject matter to
be able to form a valid opinion.
Logic
It may also be based on the logic and structure of the argument being proposed, which assumes the listener has a sound grasp
of logic and argumentation.
'SIER' critical listening breaks the process down into four
repeating parts:
Sensing
Sensing is simply hearing the words. This is not automatic and
requires careful focus and attention that excludes any distractions.
Interpretation
Interpretation is the process of understanding and assigning basic
meaning. It is based on the mental models and schemata of the listener, many of which may be based on commonly
accepted knowledge and paradigms.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the process of judging the argument, assessing
'facts' presented for real accuracy and seeking structural integrity and fallacies in the argument presented.
Assignment
Finally, having judged the argument, the critical listener may
assign worth to it. An argument may thus be judged as strong, rational,
truthful and worthy, or weak, illogical, false and unworthy.
Understand person and context
When seeking to do critical listening, it can help to understand
the person and their context. Many arguments do not stand alone and
understanding why the person is saying what they are saying can help in the
understanding and consequently evaluation of their message.
Probe
When people speak, there may be much that is assumed or otherwise
left out of what is said. A useful approach is to probe, asking questions to add useful information and help them develop
their argument.
Care here is needed to avoid leading questions, and other ways your
interaction can 'pollute' the argument the other person is giving, turning it
into a normal conversation rather than an assessment of another person's views.
A useful tool for probing are the Kipling questions of how, what, why,
when where and who. These can give you much extra, useful information.
Discrimination
An important part of listening and evaluation is in separating one
thing from another. This may take more time and questions, but lets you more
accurately understand differences and get to important detail.
An unskilled listener will quickly categorize what is said into
one of a few types of argument. A more skilled person will have many categories
and always seek more intermediate or extended cases.
Knowledge of argumentation
Logical argument is a well-developed field
that goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. An understanding of this field
will help you analyze and probe to assess the effectiveness of any proposition.
It is easy to get critical listening wrong, which is a particular
sin as the critical listener, setting themself up as a judge, must be
impeccable in their judgment or lose serious credibility.
Judging the person, not the message
A common error made by those who would be critical in their judgment
is that they stray into judging the person rather than their argument. In this
way the speaker is found bad, deceitful and so on.
False positives
A 'false positive' in evaluation of the argument is where you
judge it as good whilst it is actually flawed in some way. This can happen when
your ability to judge is limited by your knowledge or logic capabilities.
False positives also happens where you make an evaluation based on
the character of the speaker rather than what they are saying. Similarly, social desirability bias leads you to be
'kind' because you want to be liked.
False negatives
A 'false negative' occurs where you incorrectly judge the argument
as being flawed when in fact it is actually valid. This can again happen due to
lack of skill of the evaluator. It can also happen if you are overly critical
of the speaker.
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