What is the role and responsibility of the listener?
I discovered Dean Barnlund by accident, or perhaps semantic confusion. A few years ago I was stuck on this idea that communication was more than a transaction of language, but actually an opportunity for authentic exchange among people, and that this type of deep exchange could be possible in person and in the digital space. So, through internet searches and library databases, I was pleasantly shocked to not only find Barnlund, but also his “Transactional Model of Communication,” which aims to provide a moral standard that will protect and promote the healthiest of communication behavior (Barnlund, 1963).
Yes, please, I thought. Tell me more.
Barnlund was different in his day because he asserted that communication required more than transmitting information or transferring ideas; both approaches overlook the possibility of interaction and disregard the listener as a mere passive recipient. Instead, Barnlund suggested communication allows us to generate meanings, based on what is observed, processed, and assigned significance (Barnlund, 1963). Thus, in Barnlund’s philosophy, most critical is the state of mind, assumptive world, and the needs of the listener and/or observer (Barnlund, 1963), and when shaping our messages with intentions to enlarge perspective, deepen sensitivity, and encourage independent thought, we not only respect the values of the listener but also substantiate the listener as an active member of the exchange (Barnlund, 1963).
Furthermore, I am less assured in my idea about the authenticity of digital or social media exchanges, because of this crucial aspect that Barnlund also exposed: Many communication breakdowns appear to be a consequence of communicative negligence on behalf of the listener (Barnlund, 2013). As such, if we ignore important environmental cues, distort nonverbal cues from the other person, or fail to revise assumptions, then it is almost impossible to listen and respond to the total situation and construct productive meanings (Barnlund, 2013).
This is not the end; in fact, I think Barnlund ushered us to a new beginning, which calls us to more critically explore and explain the role and responsibility of the active, selfless listener, and to ask:
What are the benefits of being listened to?
References
Barnlund, D.C. (1963). Toward a meaning-centered philosophy of communication. A Review of General Semantics. 20(4). 454-469.
Barnlund, D.C. (2013). A transactional model of communication. In J. Akin, A. Goldberg, G. Myers & J. Steward (Ed.), Language behavior: A book of readings in communication. For Elwood Murray on the occasion of his retirement. (pp. 43-61). De Gruyter Mouton.
