Different situations call for different types of listening, and as your listening skills evolve, so will your ability to hear what someone is really saying. As a good communicator, you should know which type of listening to use in each situation, and how to use those skills to your advantage. Honing your discriminative, informative, relationship, appreciative and critical listening skills will make you a better communicator in any situation.
Informational Listening
The only purpose of information listening is to gain correct information from the speaker. In informational listening, you reserve judgment. When at school listening to a lecture, in church listening to a sermon or talking to a friend who is relaying a story to you, you do so listening to pick out the key points in the story and to understand the message that is meant to be passed on, notes Air University.
Appreciative Listening
Appreciative listening is done so with the intent to enjoy the story, music or information being passed on. Appreciative listening is most often done when listening to music, as you listen with only the intent to enjoy the sounds that you hear. The American Society for Training & Development recommends that, in order to truly embark in appreciative listening, you should avoid engaging in other communications and focus solely on the sounds that you're hearing for full impact.
Critical Listening
When you listen in a critical manner, you learn to hear the communication, and then identify key points and arguments, solidifying your opinion on a matter. You might engage in critical listening while in a debate, or while attending a political ceremony. Through critical listening, you learn to analyze the speaker and her agenda, and decide whether or not you agree with her, says the University of Texas College of Business.
Relationship Listening
Relationship listening is one of the most important skills you can have when dealing with people and communication. Through relationship listening, you seek to better the relationships between people. Also known as therapeutic or empathetic listening, you use your relationship listening skills to help a friend through a problem, solve conflict between co-workers and understand relationships, prompt people to open up through support and being open and honest.
Discriminative Listening
Discriminative listening causes you to look past the words coming out of the speaker's mouth, to detect what the underlying message is. Someone who is proficient in discriminative listening will look to body language, change in tone and volume to discern what the speaker is thinking and feeling. Ideal in romantic relationships, discriminatory hearing can be perfected by listening to sentence structure and understanding the feelings that cause the speech. For instance, a girlfriend saying "It's fine" with her arms crossed is likely not fine at all, and you can identify this through discriminatory listening.
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