Many years ago, I learned about Albert Mehrabian’s rule of 55-38-7 in communication. This rule states that 55% of our communication is through body language, 38% through tone of voice, and only 7% through actual words (Project Management).

Professor Mehrabian, a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (Wikipedia),  devised this rule based on two studies.  In the first study, he had 30 psychology students listen to nine words recorded on an audio tape- three positive, three negative, and three neutral words, all spoken with different tones.  The students were then asked to guess which emotion was associated with each word on a quantitative scale.  The result was predictive since the tone of our voices contained more emotion than the actual words used. (Id at Project Management.) 

In the second study, 37 psychology students listened to an audio recording of the word “maybe”  spoken in a positive, negative, and neutral tone. They were then shown black and white photos with positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions and asked to guess which emotion was associated with the tone of voice and the facial expression. Again, the results were obvious: It was easier to identify the particular emotion (that is, positive, negative, or neutral) with the facial expression in the photo than by listening to the audio of “maybe.”  (Id.)

Combining these two studies, Professor Mehrabian devised his 55-38-7  rule (Id.) Notably, which many folks miss, the rule applies ONLY to communications discussing feelings and attitudes. It cannot be applied to discussions or communications in general but only to those when feelings and attitudes are the topic of conversation (Wikipedia at 1.)  

There has been criticism of this rule. For one, it is based on interpreting a single recorded word, creating an artificial setting. (Id. at 2-3.)  Second, the result is based on combining two studies that may not be appropriate. (Id.)  Further, the study included only women;  men were not included, so its results have limited application. (Id.). Finally, the research did not include the study of body posture. ((d.)

 Notably, subsequent studies examining the impact of verbal and nonverbal communication reached different results. For example, one study found that all types of nonverbal cues, especially body language, had a 4.3 times greater impact than verbal cues. Another study found that speaking words in a flat voice was about four times more influential than facial expressions viewed in a silent film (Id.). 

So, while the 55-38- 7 rule is great for conversation- it applies only when the conversation dwells on feelings and emotions. Thus, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

… Just something to think about!

 

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