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

Albert Mehrabian never claimed the 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.

The popular claim that “93% of communication is nonverbal” is a myth, and it misrepresents the original findings of Albert Mehrabian’s research from the 1960s. Mehrabian’s studies explored the roles of tone and body language in communication. But the context was very specific: He focused on situations where spoken words were incongruent with facial expressions or vocal tone, particularly in conveying feelings and attitudes like liking or disliking.

The “93% rule” emerged as a misunderstanding of Mehrabian’s findings. In his research, Mehrabian found that when there was a conflict between words and nonverbal cues, people tended to rely more on nonverbal signals (55% body language, 38% tone of voice, and 7% words) to judge the speaker’s attitude. However, this ratio only applies to cases with ambiguity or contradiction between verbal and nonverbal elements, not to communication as a whole.

The importance of nonverbal cues in everyday interactions varies depending on the context. While nonverbal signals play a significant role, words remain central to conveying specific ideas and information. Simplifying Mehrabian’s findings into a blanket “93% of communication is nonverbal” statement distorts the original research and overlooks the complexity of human communication.

The research is discussed at length here,  but this video from Creativity Works clarifies these misconceptions concisely for a quick, engaging overview. It’s worth watching to understand the nuance of Mehrabian’s work and avoid falling into the trap of oversimplified statistics.

Nonverbal 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 nonverbal messages conflict, people always believe the nonverbal.

Resources

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