Overall results (score 78)

Mary's score indicates that her listening skills are fairly good. This is fortunate because such abilities are essential for maintaining good relationships. Practiced listening encompasses both verbal and non-verbal techniques. When Mary uses these techniques together, she can effectively show others that she is open to the messages they are conveying. Since she displays many of these essential skills, people likely feel comfortable opening up to her.

Physical Attentiveness (score 78)

According to her results, Mary is generally a physically attentive listener; she often indicates to others (through actions and words) that she is paying attention to them. As she likely knows, listening is an active process. Good listeners will let the speaker know, either verbally or non-verbally, that they are attuned to the conversation. They make eye contact, use verbal cues (e.g. "Uh huh", "I understand", "Go on"), ask questions, and paraphrase what the speaker has said. In addition, active listeners will refrain from multi-tasking. These techniques are essential in order to encourage the flow of conversation.

External Distractions (score 25)

She rarely gets distracted by background noise, and tries to avoid engaging in other activities that could potentially compromise her ability to pay attention.

Conversation Flow (score 74)

She allows conversation to flow without interruptions. She rarely interjects her opinion or otherwise interrupts conversation when her undivided attention is required.

Speaker to Listener Transition (score 87)

Mary appears to be comfortable in the role of listener, and doesn't seem to have too much difficulty controlling the urge to speak at inopportune moments, no matter how strong the temptation.

Body Language (score 81)

Mary's body language sends a clear message to the speaker that she is actively attending to the conversation.

Mental Attentiveness (score 78)

Mary's responses indicate that her mental attentiveness is rather good, but may need to be improved a little. For the most part however, she generally doesn't have too much difficulty fully attending to a speaker during conversations, and is capable of keeping her mind from wandering. Good listeners will try to find at least one thing remotely interesting about a dull topic instead of zoning out or simply pretending to be interested. They also know how to keep their focus centered on the speaker, no matter how strong the temptation to daydream. In Mary's case, she is doing fairly well in this area.

Internal Distractions (score 28)

She seldom allows distracting thoughts or personal preoccupations to disrupt her focus.

Attention Span (score 76)

Mary has a good attention span. She is capable of maintaining her focus on a speaker for as long as necessary, regardless of whether the subject matter is boring or difficult to grasp.

Hearing a Person Out (score 80)

Mary does her best to listen with an open mind, and refrain from hastily drawing her own conclusions about the speaker or the subject matter. An example would be hearing a person out even if Mary disagrees with something he/she has said.