High-Quality Listening Supports Speakers’ Autonomy and Self-Esteem when Discussing Prejudice

Abstract

We examined how the experience of high-quality listening (attentive, empathic, and nonjudgmental) impacts speakers’ basic psychological needs and state self-esteem when discussing the difficult topic of a prejudiced attitude. Specifically, we hypothesized that when speakers discuss a prejudiced attitude with high-quality listeners, they experience higher autonomy, relatedness, and self-esteem than speakers who share their prejudiced attitude while experiencing moderate listening. We predicted that autonomy need satisfaction would mediate the effect of listening on speakers’ self-esteem even when relatedness, a well-documented predictor of self-esteem, is controlled for in mediation models. Two experiments that manipulated listening through in-person interactions with high-quality or moderate listeners supported these hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, with a focus on the role of experiencing high-quality listening for speakers’ state self-esteem during difficult conversations.

Communicating for workplace connection: A longitudinal study of the outcomes of listening training on teachers' autonomy, psychological safety, and relational climate

“…Despite these limitations, previous laboratory experiments that have manipulated listening behavior have found that listening has a causal effect on increased psychological safety (Castro et al, 2016, 2018) and autonomy (Itzchakov & Weinstein, 2021; Itzchakov et al, 2022; Weinstein et al, 2021), suggesting that there is indeed a causal link between listening and these relational experiences which the current study was able to identify through an in‐depth workplace training program delivered across a substantial span of time.…”

“…An in‐person experiment similarly found that listening (this time in stranger‐dyads) promoted the speakers' autonomy need satisfaction. Similarly, in the context of a difficult conversation, Itzchakov and Weinstein (2021) found that speakers who expressed prejudiced attitudes felt more autonomy when their listeners exhibited high‐quality listening behavior compared to moderate‐and‐poor listening behaviors. Endrejat et al (2021) found that employees' active listening skills were positively correlated with autonomy‐supportive communication.…”

How to get through hard times: Principals' listening buffers teachers' stress on turnover intention and promotes organizational citizenship behavior

“…An important point for discussion in the present work context is the source that provides social support. Listening has been theorized to be a specific social support behavior (Itzchakov & Weinstein, 2021 ; Weinstein et al, 2022 ). There are arguably potential differences when the person in a power position provides high-quality listening, such as the school principals in the present research, and when the person providing high-quality listening is a person of equal power, such as a colleague.…”

A theoretical review on the interplay of EFL/ESL teachers' career adaptability, self-esteem, and social support

“…Accordingly, there have been several studies on the relationship among self-esteem, anxiety, achievement, positive emotions, academic motivation persistence, and flexibility (Leary and MacDonald, 2003;Dewaele, 2011;Basco and Han, 2016;Moriya, 2019). Furthermore, selfesteem has been explored in relation to different language skills and sub-skills in the past decade including speaking (Satriani, 2019), reading (Stranovska and Gadusova, 2020), writing (Fahim and Rad, 2012), and listening (Itzchakov and Weinstein, 2021). Although these are insightful investigations in L2 education, the interplay of self-esteem and psycho-social and occupational variables has not been given due attention.…”