COMM 104 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I Hearing vs Listening II Why is listening important III What are the parts of listening IV How can you be an effective listener V What is the HURIER Model VI What questions should a good listener ask Outline of Current Lecture I Three types of Memory and how to improve them a Immediate b Short Term c Long Term II How is critical thinking connected to communication III What cognitive skills are involved in critical thinking IV Inductive vs Deductive Reasoning V What habits do strong critical thinkers practice Current Lecture I There are three types of memory These three types are all interrelated and work together to help individuals remember information a Immediate Memory this is the first step to the memory process When information enters the immediate memory the brain has a choice of whether or not to move this information on to the next step or to disregard it This is a conscience effort by the immediate memory even though it happens very quickly This is why the immediate memory is often called the filtering device If you want to improve your immediate memory try different exercises to sharpen your focus If you can get better at determining what is important while listening then your immediate memory will work more quickly b Short term Memory The short term memory is the next stop for information that is moved along from the immediate memory The short term memory retains information for 30 seconds or less but can be helpful in creating competency in interpersonal communication This is called the working These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute memory An example of this would be cramming for an exam and remembering all the information well for the exam but then forgetting once the exam is over Improving short term memory can be done in several ways One of the most common ways and my personal favorite is to use repetition Write notes or facts over and over again to train your brain to remember them You can also group concepts together into larger categories to help you remember things referred to as chunking Also try to find patterns in what you are learning Do things make more sense in alphabetical order Do they have certain first letters in common c Long term Memory this is the last step to remembering information Long term memory has a very large capacity It can hold much more information than either of the other two types of memory Due to this it takes longer for information stored here to be able to be used For instance when someone s name is right on the tip of your tongue you know it but just can t quite think of it fast enough This is because that name is in your long term memory It is often referred to as the data bank Improving your long term memory can be done through association Put information into context using your own life experiences and make those connections to the new material Categorize information into groups or parts that make sense through some type of organization Mediation is another skill that can be useful for long term memory This includes taking information that does not seem to fit together and making connections between them using some type of logic An example would be making an acronym for completely different concepts to group them together in your mind II Critical thinking is a skill that is very valuable in a communication setting It is taking information processing it and making judgments This is beneficial not only to yourself but to others that you may be communicating with It ensures that you do not use aggressive communication and helps to form a logical concrete thought process when necessary in arguments III There are many cognitive skills involved in critical thinking They can be broken down into the following a Interpretation what do you get out of this information based on your past experiences events etc to help you comprehend the material Ask questions such as what does this mean b Analysis determine if there is a difference between the speaker s intended meaning and your own interpretation Ask why do think this and what is your basis c Evaluation determine the strength of the argument and whether or not the source is credible Ask how confident are we that this is true d Self regulation reflect on the information Am I missing anything IV V e Inference decide what is needed to make a logical conclusion or form some type of hypothesis taking into account what is relevant What do we need to solve this issue f Explanation justify the reasoning behind the conclusion by making a clear logical statement How did you get those results When thinking critically two types of reasoning are commonly used inductive and deductive reasoning Deductive reasoning takes a large assumption and follows a logical sequence to prove that if smaller assumptions are true the large one must be true This is often referred to as the Top Down Approach Inductive reasoning is the opposite of deductive reasoning This takes small occurrences and attempts to connect them to a larger concept It can be thought of as the Bottom Up Approach Becoming a critical thinker can take hard work and motivation There are habits that strong critical thinkers possess that one can practice to improve a Truth Seeking when you listen to information make an effort to find the truth behind it and always have a desire to attain the best possible information and knowledge available to you Don t let bias get in the way of your learning b Be open minded Don t let your mind be closed off to hearing another side of an argument Other possibilities exist so you must be open to discovering them c Be analytical Think of the consequences both long and short term which may arise from a solution Be aware of potential issues d Think systematically when approaching a problem think with organization and a purpose e Be Confident make sure that your reasoning is good enough for you to back it up confidently If you don t believe your stance nobody else will either f Stay Inquisitive seek new information all the time Critical thinkers are always absorbing new knowledge and wanting more g Be Judicious don t count out any possible solutions and look at the problems or issues from every different perspective There may be a grey area within the solution