How to foster perceived partner responsiveness: High-quality listening is key
Abstract
Social psychologists have a longstanding interest in the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of positive social connections. This article reviews and integrates two emerging but to this point disparate lines of work that focus on these mechanisms: high-quality listening and perceived partner responsiveness. We also review research investigating the downstream consequences of high-quality listening and perceived partner responsiveness: the how and why of understanding the process by which these downstream benefits are obtained. High-quality listening and perceived partner responsiveness, though not isomorphic, are related constructs in that they both incorporate several key interpersonal processes, such as understanding, positive regard, and expressions of caring for another person. We develop a theoretical model for representing how listening embodies one form of interactive behavior that can promote (or hinder) perceived partner responsiveness and its downstream affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects. Finally, we discuss our model’s implications for various social-psychological domains, such as social cognition, self-evaluation, constructive disagreements, and interpersonal relationships.
How do people perceive listeners?
Guy Itzchakov, Geoffrey Haddock and Sarah Smith
Listening
Listening is essential in shaping social interactions,
relationships and communication. While listening research
has generated significant insights on how speakers benefit
from good listening, one fundamental question has been
largely overlooked: how do people perceive listeners?
This gap is crucial for understanding how perceptions of
listeners impact relational dynamics. In three studies (two
preregistered; total N = 1509), we assessed the attributes
and behaviours associated with good and bad listeners, and
whether the favourability of these attributes and behaviours
impact downstream consequences. In Study 1, participants
identified an acquaintance they judged as a good or bad
listener. Good listeners were rated higher in positive listening
attributes and behaviours, which mediated their perceived
warmth, competence and values. Study 2 replicated this using
a reverse correlation technique: one sample generated faces
of a good or bad listener, which were then evaluated by a
second, naïve sample. Consistent with Study 1, good listener
faces were rated higher in positive listening attributes and
behaviours, mediating perceptions of warmth, competence,
humility and values. Study 3 extended Study 2 by showing
that the effects were not due to a general positivity bias,
demonstrating the significant interpersonal consequences of
being perceived as a good or bad listener.
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Advancing Primed Goal Research in Organizational Behavior
Xiao Chen, Gary P. Latham, Ronald F. Piccolo, Guy Itzchakov
Goal Setting
In this rejoinder, we address three issues discussed in the commentaries on our lead article: possible ethical issues in goal priming in organizational settings, whether goal priming is restricted to routine behaviors, and the relationship of goal priming with self-fulling prophecies and an organization’s climate. Finally, our data were examined by an independent researcher who tested for publication bias.
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