Feeling heard: Operationalizing a key concept for social relations

Feeling heard is seen as a cornerstone of intimate relationships and healthy self-development. In public life, feeling heard may play an important role in a well-functioning representative democracy. The current paper aimed to define and measure feeling heard in the context of everyday interpersonal interactions. Based on an integrative literature review, feeling heard is conceptualized as consisting of five components at two levels. At the interpersonal level people feel heard when they have 1) voice, and they receive (2) attention, (3) empathy, and (4) respect. At the collective level people should experience (5) common ground. In two population surveys (N = 194, N = 1000) and a lab study (N = 74, repeated measures), we develop and validate the feeling heard scale (FHS); a concise eight-item scale with good psychometric properties. Results show that the FHS is a distinct and powerful predictor of conversation intentions in many different contexts and relationships. In fact, the FHS is the strongest predictor of intentions for conflict behavior among a set of 15 related variables (e.g., acquaintance, intimacy). Moreover, the FHS explains variance in conversational experiences that other variables do not. We conclude by reflecting on the potential applications of this scale. In interpersonal relations and professional contacts, the FHS enables the assessment of one crucial dimension of social interaction.