Explain information processing as part of the listening process. What three skills are used? How does paralanguage play a role?

What will be an ideal response?

- Information processing means that you weigh information and assign meaning to the stimuli you sense. During listening, information processing uses evaluation, interpretation, and understanding to gain comprehension.
- Each time we enter into a listening situation, we have to evaluate the message and information. (Evaluation is when we assess the meaning of information.) Is the information critical? Is the information credible? We then interpret the information based on tools such as our thinking preferences; the degree that we focused on the information; our existing knowledge; how we compare new information to older information; and paralanguage, or how things are said.
- Paralanguage-nonverbal components like intonation-and gestures or body language can also be significant factors in how we interpret a message. Upon interpreting the stimuli, we then give it meaning so we may have understanding.
- Understanding allows us to know something in our own minds, that is, in our own thoughts and language.