Recognizing the lack of research delineating what personality traits might predispose a person to poor listening, this paper contrasts two lines of research assessing how the cognitive and affective characteristics of speakers impact on their recall of conversation. The first section of the paper considers the theoretical perspective arguing that poor conversational recall is a result of excessive self-focus and inattention to the interlocutor in conversation, and that the research methodology involved directly parallels the methodology normally used in the lecture retention model of traditional listening research. The second section of the paper develops a theoretical perspective derived from close analysis of the conversational text to reveal strategies used by the speakers in conversation. Specifically, it argues that poor conversational recall is based not on excessive self-focus, but on type of orientation to conversational text and the interaction mode of the conversation. The final sections of the paper develop a typology of listeners in conversation using the two interactive variables associated with interaction involvement--discourse orientation (meaning based vs. text based) and interpersonal stance (independent vs. dependent). (HOD)