nsity that enables us to pay attention (Moray 18). Attention thresholds vary depending on several key factors, including our motivational sate and arousal level. Arousal, or the level of alertness, plays a key role in a listener aptitude for paying close attention. Our specific state of arousal determines our threshold for paying close attention to stimuli.The third facet of the listening process is understanding. Understanding usually refers to the process whereby we assign a meaning to the words we hear that closely corresponds to the meaning intended by the person sending the message. The major barrier to mutual interpersonal communication is our very natural tendency to judge, to evaluate, to approve or disapprove, the statement of the other person, or the group (Rogers 330). Further explanation by Lewis Losoncy about understanding is when you listen to accept another persons point of view without the obstruction of your own need to judge, moralize, advise, or appear to know it all (Losoncy 27). If we can focus more of our listening effort on trying to understand the meaning that the speaker was intending to convey, temporarily withholding our tendency to judge or evaluate that message, we should considerably improve our ability to listen more effectively.The true test of listening is remembering, the final stage in effective listening. Memory is divided into two categories, short and long term. The main difference between short term memory and long term memory is the amount of repetition and rehearsing that occurs with an individual item of information, and the ease with which the item fits into already stored information (Barker 62). Often retaining the knowledge exchanged proves to be on of the most difficult steps in the listening process. Numerous studies have been conducted throughout the years trying to identify the retention rate of most humans. One overlapping point of these studies shocked me. Immediately after hearing so...
