Mental Health Critical Listening Checklist: Understanding People Holistically
Develop discernment in evaluating behaviors, intentions, and emotional and cognitive patterns in others. 1. Content Focus What topics do they return to frequently? Do they focus on solutions, principles, or mostly on external events and anecdotes? Are their references grounded (e.g., experiences, evidence, or spiritual/cultural sources) or vague/generalized? 2. Emotional Presentation How do they use emotion? Is it genuine, manipulative, or performative? Are there patterns of over-emphasis, exaggeration, or extremes to elicit a response? How do pauses, tone, and emphasis affect perception and reactions? 3. Reasoning & Critical Thinking Do they connect points logically, or rely on repetition, clichés, or commonly quoted sources? Are conclusions supported by layered reasoning or surface-level references? Do they acknowledge nuances, or present absolute positions without context? 4. Social and Identity Signals Look for subtle cues of nationalism...