The Mehrabian Myth It is not true that 93% of our communication is nonverbal

Albert Mehrabian never claimed the evidently false assertion that 93% of our communication is nonverbal. Non-verbal signals play a role in communication, but they are not more important than words.

I would be surprised if you have not heard the statement, often in a training course or at a conference that when we communicate:

• Our body language conveys 55% of the message
• The tone of our voice represents 38%
• Our actual words convey only 7%

Well, it’s just NOT true. It is a misinterpretation of some research conducted by Albert Mehrabian in 1967.

The research is discussed at length here, but this little video from Creativity Works explains it concisely:

Non-verbal signals play a role in communication, but they are not more important than words. In practicing Conversational Leadership, we must remember that when words and non-verbal messages conflict, people always believe the non-verbal.

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• Non-verbal signals play a role in communication, but they are not more important than words.
• The Mehrabian Myth: It is just not true that 93% of our communication is nonverbal.

Resources

• Article: The Mehrabian Myth by Eric Bergman
• Blog Post: Debunking the Debunkers — the Mehrabian Myth Explained (Correctly) by Nick Morgan
• Article: THE MEHRABIAN MYTH by edoMidas

Posts that link to this post

•  Myth: Our Body Language Conveys 55% of the Message This is a distortion of some research conducted by Albert Mehrabian in 1967
•  What Is a Real Conversation? There is more to conversation than just talking or exchanging messages

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