Dismissive Listening

One way people can treat others poorly is by practicing dismissive listening rather than empathic listening. It is a very common behavior. It is so common, in fact, that many people don’t even realize that it’s not right. They may feel badly after someone treats them this way but not necessarily know why, because in addition to being so commonplace, it’s also very subtle.

Dismissive listening can be recognized easily if you know what to look for. Basically it is like the name says, it is when someone dismisses what you say. Some common dismissive phrases are:

• “Don’t be upset/sad/angry!”
• “The same thing happened to my friend! She was fine though.”
• “At least it’s not…<insert random bad thing here>”
• “Well it could be worse!”
• Any sort of toxic positivity phrase like, “cheer up!”, “Positive vibes only!” or “Think only happy thoughts!”

Dismissive phrases like these often try to shut down…