Most of the time you are engaged with your own thoughts. Observe yourself, when you talk to others how much attention do you give to the other person. Do you give full attention to what the person is saying or you keep yourself engaged in your own thoughts?
For many, as soon as they hear the first few words from others, they start preparing mentally what to say next. This takes the attention away from the speaker. As a result, the entire content and intention of the speaker does not reach out to the listener. This creates a biased view of the speaker.
The more biased you are towards the person, more it happens that you do not pay full attention to the words spoken by the person. The preconceived notion about the person forces you to start thinking in parallel.
Practice listening with full attention whoever it is. The moment you give full attention, you will get the message of the speaker without any bias. Your response then will be unbiased and this will cause less friction.
Listening to others without any bias with full attention will resolve many issues which arise because of misunderstanding. Make your relationships stronger just by listening attentively!
Cheers,
Zustfine