Busting the Mehrabian Myth

[JosephTWhite83]

bullshit. words are only a mean, never the purpose itself, they have to emerge from the communicate therefore it is important that the speaker should be aware that one can only develop honest and fair communication by allowing the words to express the story which is the 97% and is not commanded by the words but creates them as well as the face expression, voice tone etc. If there's no story behind the words, there's no communication. Only an illusion. Beware of teaching people unless you know it

[storinge]

Mehrabian does NOT say his model applies to ALL communication. He's specifically talking about how we communicate feelings or emotions - as the video points out at 2:17. When we express 'feelings', body language and tone of voice do indeed play a major part - more than just the words alone. That's why when sending emails, 'emoticons' can be helpful :-)

Unfortunately the video title is rather misleading. People have misunderstood or taken his theory out of context, but it isn't 'busted'.

[thespeechwriter]

See Martin and Martha in action at the UK Speechwriters' Guild conference on Friday 16 September 2011 in Bournemouth.

[brennanyoung]

Certainly some strawman attacks going on here. What is not mentioned *at all* is the role of context. No matter how great your verbal communication, the wrong context can undermine your message 100%, or even cause it to have the opposite effect. (e.g. George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech from 2003). Don't get me wrong, I love artful verbal communication, but context is ultimately more important. (And body language often provides context...)

[jael36]

You can say a 1000 words and still not get the message across without the proper delivery.

[jde247]

Bollo. Unfortunately you can't see me, or hear how I said this, so you won't know what I mean.

[suddenteams]

My consulting practice is based on a review of hundreds of studies, and I looked into this very topic. The video is absolutely correct. Nonverbals supply 65% (according to later research) of what *we infer* about another person's *emotional state.* In all other communication situations, words carry the load. Still doubting? The most concise debunking was by communications professor David Lapakko back in 1997: "Three Cheers for Language," in the journal Communication Education, V. 46, p. 63.

[TheWitchKing456]

By the combination of talking AND your face, than it´s 50% stupids.

[salesinfluence]

Great video and presentation! Thank you for clarifying and contextualizing its proper meaning/use.

[elyembty]

remake your video with real poeple bodies (since that is what they studied) and things will be more clear.

[ziggyfly04]

Misleading with partial truths. Simply put, Mehrabian was talking about the communication of EMOTION. When communicating emotion, body language, especially of the face, counts. You can actually see this clearly in the little stick figure vignette. When communicating technical information, on the other hand, content (words, figures, graphs) obviously count lots more.

[gtpcwb]

Totaly retarded video. Watch a good body language documentary or a good book on the subject.

[lilnqbus]

I've never heard a communications instructor tell me that words don't matter. What they have told me is that while we listen to the words, we INFER their true meaning through the nonverbal cues and tonal cues. Of course, nonverbal and tonal cues may not line up with what the speaker is trying to get across to you.

[pokehimon]

guess you guys really like words.....

[The4LA2Baker0]

cool video

i cant see or hear any of the people making these comments, but im pretty sure i got more that 7% of their meaning.

[orisit28]

Interesting that these people chose to use the words "facial expression" as representative of 55% percent of communication. Silly me, all this time I thought it was OVERALL body language that made up the 55% then tonality at 38% then actual spoken word. This is just another theory. . . have any of these people ever been out at a bar or club trying to communicate with other people when its LOUD?

[internationaltrainer]

At the end you say "the importance of words". Mehrabian principle is NOT about the importance but about the impact. Assuming the verbal message is well constructed and understandable it will have or not have the impact it seeks depending on the non-verbal factor. We have all had teachers whose non-verbal was so poor that it was impossible to follow their words in spite of their being very important, relevant and interesting.

[jkeller2008]

Hmm, interesting, but the non-verbal part makes people like you, which in turn makes them wanna listen more. Ron Paul "speaks" diligentlry and truthful, and many don't listen. Obama "speaks" diligently but also ues great body language, so there ya go.

[BlackNoodles123]

Why the cheering at the end though?

[megahoed]

The premise is interesting however I have found the 90% thing to be true.

However is it not really about communication, as it is about liking somebody, which is far more important in sales.

that's why salesmen are so boastful, always. You can talk complete crap and still sell products, because your non-verbal communication is excellent

[KaizenTraining]

lovely video! well done x

[stemdocent]

:-)

[McConsumer]

I agree with you, but delivery CAN make or break a presentation.

[LiberatiRex]

This is absolutely right; but it really depends upon the context and type of message. I think that this debate in itself is redundant; analysis can only really be done reliably on a sentence by sentence basis; it is a failing attempt to quantify something which is inherently qualitative.

[wobinidan]

Yeah, because an ANIMATION of a guy mumbling absolutely represents real human discourse.

You may or may not have a point, but this is a total strawman argument.

[CreativityWorks]

Interesting how, despite our not being able to see or hear you, your words succeed in conveying your feelings about our animation...I think you may have helped us make our point!

[JoshoewaGillespie]

@CreativityWorks Actually you'll notice that even as you read his comment you account for his tone in your head. And you helped us to read your comment by using commas and a simple "...". That means that you both used 45% of your communicational abilities! And these studies were to show how we can interpret meaning. Seeing as there is only one obvious meaning, our minds don't require that other 55%.

[spleenblender]

Not fair to accuse science as the reason why such fallacies are propagated.

[CreativityWorks]

Our video is solidly pro-science. Its target is people who misquote scientific findings without first bothering to study and understand them. Professor Mehrabian was interviewed on BBC radio a few weeks after we posted our video, and he was asked, "whether 93% of communication is nonverbal?" He answered, "absolutely not. And whenever I hear that misquote of my findings I cringe because it should be obvious to anybody who would use any amount of common sense that that's not a correct statement!"

[DBforVP]

Words = Content

Non-verbals + Vocals + Feelings

Conflicting signals between content (what is said) and feelings (how it is presented) default to believing the feelings. Why?  Words are easy to manipulate (lies). Non-verbals and vocals require the honed skills of a more professinal con artist to be truly misleading.

[BacalAssociate]

Meharabian never said what you think he said, which makes an ironic situation where you have put all this effort into dispelling a myth while at the same time enouraging the myth.

[Claustral]

At least twice in the last year I've heard this myth presented as truth by consultants. The myth is out there - it needs rebutting no matter how this misinterpretation arose.

[SoylentGreenStreet]

Nice video and a useful reminder of the dangers inherent in quoting statistics out of context.

[haistapaska20]

Word!

[lbraith]

Love it! Clever, concise and effective. I'll be passing it along.

[georgetorok]

Nicely done. Too many people believe and repeat the myth. Mehrabian's results were very specific and the work he used was "likeability".

Thanks for presenting the truth in such a refreshing way. I posted this video on my Executive Speech Coach blog

George Torok

[mdeutch]

Great video! Loved the ending, the applause. Made me smile.

[MarkBowden1]

Whoops -- sounds like the non verbal had a profound effect on your feelings about this verbal content. Maybe you should listen to it again without the manipulative images and sounds around it ;-)

[SteveCherches]

Manipulative images...??? It's an informational video.

Not sure your definitions of non-verbal and verbal are on target. This is an example of effectively using audio and visuals to communicate a message.

Surprising that a Body Language Expert would not have a clear understanding of Mehrabian's study.

[MarkBowden1]

Hey Steve -- note the ;-) emote after my initial comment. This visual gives an idea of the intention behind it. And yea--who is this Mehrabian guy anyhow :-)

[SteveCherches]

Hi Mark - fair enough : )

Although... I responded after hearing (seeing) the surprising comments you made in your video posts (tv appearances)... "What you say doesn't really matter"..." after using the Mehrabian numbers :)

That said, you've got great energy and you're definitely entertaining.

[MarkBowden1]

Thanks Steve, very kind of you to say. Its a TV show and you need a headline to keep the audience for the helpful stuff. I agree, Mehrabian is much misquoted -- but can be a useful set of figures to provoke bigger insights further down the line.

[eyefulpresentations]

Top work, guys - really impressive...

[peterbl]

Utterly brilliant - well-made, useful and fun. If you could see my face and hear my tone you'd know I was being sincere.

[planetconscious]

well done m&m - have tweeted about this too... (neiltwaterguy)

[MsJoym]

This is absolutely fab. If I was still a teacher it would be an essential part of functional skills. With colleges and schools all having intereactive whieboards this wiuld be so easy to use and for conferences too. Joy

[SteveCherches]

Love this...! I can finally send a video that will explain the Mehrabian myth and end the confusion...!

[OurSoulSpa]

Why not just send a transcript of the text?

[SteveCherches]

Hi OurSoulSpa... I'm not sure I understand the question.

I strongly believe in the power of visuals to communicate the message. This video does an excellent job of that.

[kamanetzki]

A brilliant animation explaining a complicated concept. It's both enlightening and amusing in equal measure.

[harrypuckering]

Superb! A pithy description of what Mehrabian actually means.

In my experience, a worryingly large proportion of UK trainers trot out a "55/38/7" PowerPoint slide at some point during their courses, when hardly any of them has gone back to the original research to find out where these numbers come from. This film is a sensible step toward more rigorous, evidence-based training.

[kamanetzki]

I agree. And what wonderful animation. It's really funny and bang on in its explosion of the myth.