Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Empathic Listening

Empathic listening has been hailed as a core component of competent communication, primarily because it has been linked to many positive listener outcomes. Some of these positive outcomes include more satisfying friendships and intimate relationships, better understanding, more effective mediations, more positive counseling outcomes, and being perceived as more credible and likable. For example, interpersonal communication texts describe empathic listening as leading to positive relational outcomes, whereas public speaking texts ascribe positive outcomes to empathic listening for both speakers (more credibility and persuasiveness) and audience members (better understanding of the message). It is one of the mechanisms by which we communicate our acceptance of others, encourage the surfacing of important information, reduce defensiveness, and create an environment conducive to collaborative problem solving.

However, it is in its infancy. There are few validated instruments to measure it, but there is no unifying theory that unravels the tangle of underlying effects, results, and processes. Before such a theory can be built, however, listening researchers must first define empathic listening and identify its underlying processes. Listening researchers Laura A. Janusik, Graham D. Bodie, and their associates have been working on defining empathic listening, describing its effects, and outlining its underlying processes. Their goal has been to create a valid theory of empathic listening. This entry works toward that end by describing empathic listening, describing its component parts, and proffering a unifying theory of listening. In addition, various measures of listening are described and future research directions are discussed.

Defining Empathic Listening

A definition of empathic listening has to consider the concepts of both empathy and listening. Empathy as an affective concept has been variously described as a concern for the goodwill of the conversational partner, as altruism, or as being able to identify with the perspective of the partner.

A second approach to empathy is more cognitive in nature. This approach emphasizes understanding a person from his or her frame of reference so one can identify his or her motivations, attitudes, and behaviors.

A third approach emphasizes the behavioral aspect of empathy. Accordingly, empathy is adapting one’s message to the conversational partner. Empathy is seen in the listener’s responsiveness to the partner, insight into the partner’s perspective, and forming the message so that the partner will understand it.

These three aspects work together to help the listener form a message for the other that correctly identifies the conversational partner’s point of view and shows concern for his or her welfare and well-being. Thus, empathy can be defined as a listener’s attentiveness to, and emotional connection with, a conversational partner that arises from understanding the partner’s point of view. In sum, empathy has affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects.

It is useful to view empathy and its aspects as static entities that take on numerical values corresponding to “how much” of each the listener has. For example, on an empathy scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a lot empathy and 1 being very little, an individual who has a score of 8 would have a fairly high amount of empathy, whereas another individual with a score of 3 would have much less—5 units less—than the first person.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution