Individual

Assignment: Essay

Effective Public Communication

(FCOM 0102)

Assignment 1

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

Carmen Chee Cha Yi (0313893)

TOPIC 3: Sometimes our self gets in the way of effective listening. Explain the

concepts of egocentrism, defensiveness, experiential superiority, and personal

bias by telling how each obstructs effective listening.

According to Wong, L (2010), effective listening involves a willingness to eliminate poor

listening habits, which are learned behaviors that are influenced by internal and external

distractions. It is common, when listening to someone else speak, to be formulating a

reply whilst the other person is still talking. However, this means that we are not really

listening to all that is being said. Even good listeners are often guilty of critically

evaluating what is being said before fully understand the message that the speaker is

trying to communicate. The result is that assumptions are made and conclusions

reached about the speaker's meaning, that might be inaccurate. This and other types of

ineffective listening lead to misunderstandings and a breakdown in communication.

There are many things that get in the way of listening and you should be aware of these

barriers, many of which are bad habits, in order to become a more effective listener.

Barriers that obstruct effective listening include egocentrism, defensiveness,

experiential superiority, and personal bias.

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

Egocentrism is the tendency for our perceptions and expectations to be biased in a self

serving manner. People prefer that the outcomes be beneficial to them and justify this

with the plea of 'fairness'. This prompts people to put up walls and almost completely

oblivious to what another is talking about, then arguing with them merely because they

will not see themselves as misguided. This would leads to ignoring other sides of the

argument. Pearson, C.P., Nelson, E. N., Scott, T., Harter, H. (2013) explains that

egocentrism means excessive self-focus, or seeing yourself as the central concern in

every conversation. For example, you redirect the conversation that you and your

friends engaged in to your own problems. If you are an egocentric listener, the whole

world would centers on you and you wouldn't pay much attention to the other people. To

put it shortly, egocentrism is a self-centeredness.

On the other hand, defensiveness is defined as acting threatened and feeling as though

you must defend what you have said or done (Pearson, C.P., Nelson, E. N., Scott, T.,

Harter, H. , 2013). It's like an automatic, emotional response to a perceived threat.

Everyone reacts at some time with defensiveness in order to protect themselves: it's

universal. In simple terms, defensive listening is when people take innocent comment

as personal attacks or chose to hear only what they want to hear. However, one way to

stop this behavior is to explain to the person that they have it all wrong. One example to

this that you could relate in reality is when a wife asks her husband to do a simple task

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

and the husband erupts thinking she is nagging him, but instead she is only asking a

simple question.

As for experiential superiority, it takes place when people fail to fully listen to someone

else because they believe that they possess more or superior knowledge and

experience than the other person (Pearson, C.P., Nelson, E. N., Scott, T., Harter, H. ,

2013). Just due to the fact that everybody has an ego, everyone will experience

experiential superiority whether it's your parents, a lecturer, or a peer. This happens

when you start blocking somebody out because you think you know more than they do,

and it's just a waste of your time to listen to them. For an instance, if you have worked at

the same job for a number of years, you might choose not to listen to a recently hired

employee's suggestion about your work. You might feel that because you have more

experience in the position, you do not need to listen because you will not hear anything

new. Unfortunately, the new hire's suggestion might be good, but you will never know

because you did not listen.

Lastly, personal bias is explained as letting your own predispostions, or strongly held

beliefs, interfere with your ability to interpret information. (Pearson, C.P., Nelson, E. N.,

Scott, T., Harter, H. ,2013) Most common example for this in a college, is where

students as listeners often dismiss lecturers as uninteresting where they assume the

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

lectures would be boring so they chose to not listen. According to Gordon, T.

(2003) ,bias can also take on many forms. Personal prejudice can affect how well we

listen and how we perceive what the speaker is saying wheareas anger can also cause

distortion of the message.

There are many challenges and barriers like egocentrism, defensiveness, experiential

superiority, and personal bias to effective listening. However, ineffective listerning is

very common. As listening is so fundamental to the communication processes, it is

important to try to avoid ineffective listening. In conclusion, to become a good listener or

a good communicator, it is essential to overcome listening barriers.

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

REFERENCES

1. Pearson, C.P., Nelson, E. N., Scott, T., Harter, H. (2013) Human

Communication, (5th ed.) Boston: McGraw Hill

2. Gordon, T. (2003) Teacher Effectiveness Training: First Revised Edition. New

York: Three Rivers Press.

3. Wong, L. (2010) Essential Study Skills: Seventh Edition. United States: Cengage

Learning.

4. Duck, S. & McMahan, D. T. (2012) The Basics of Communication: A Relational

Perspective. California: SAGE Publication, Inc.

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi

5. Umar (2012) . Overcoming Listening Barriers. Retrieved from October 28, 2013

from http://mycomsats.com/blogs/overcoming-listening-barriers/

6. Anderson, J., Poole, M. (2001) Assignment and Thesis Writing, Milton: John

Wiley & Sons Australia

FNBE JAN 2013 - FCOM 0102 Effective Public Communication

Carmen Chee Cha Yi