Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

1. Hearing and listening are synonymous with each other.
2. Listening style is the conscious style adopted by a person to fit an appropriate situation.
3. Sympathy translates our intellectual understanding of what the speaker has experienced into feelings of concern, compassion, and sorrow for that person.
4. Inferences are statements whose accuracy can be verified as true.
5. Supportive responses create an environment that encourages the other person to talk about and make sense of a distressing situation.

1. False. People sometimes make the mistake of thinking listening and hearing are the same, but they are not. Hearing is a physiological process. Listening, on the other hand, consists of complex affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes.
2. False. Listening style is one’s favored and usually unconscious approach to listening. Each of us favors one of four listening styles.
3. True. Sympathetic responsiveness is feeling concern, compassion, or sorrow for another’s situation. Rather than attempting to experience the feelings of the other person, sympathy translates our intellectual understanding of what the speaker has experienced into feelings of concern, compassion, and sorrow for that person.
4. False. Facts are statements whose accuracy can be verified as true. If a statement is offered as a fact, a person needs to determine if it is true.
5. True. Supportive responses create an environment that encourages the other person to talk about and make sense of a distressing situation. Supporting does not mean making false statements or telling someone only what he or she wants to hear.