Albert Mehrabian (born in 1939 to an Armenian family in Iran, currently
the Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA) has become known best for his publications on the relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages. His findings on inconsistent messages of feelings and attitudes have been quoted throughout communication seminars worldwide, and have also become known as the 7%-38%-55% rule.

In his studies, Mehrabian came to two conclusions. First, there are basically three elements in any face-to-face communication:

• Words/Language (e.g. English, Mandarin, Malay)
• Tone of voice (e.g. pitch, rate, quality)
• Non-verbal behaviour (e.g. facial expression, gesture)

Secondly, the non-verbal elements are particularly important for communicating feelings and attitude, especially when they are incongruent. This means if words disagree with the tone of voice and nonverbal behaviour, people tend to believe the tonality and nonverbal behaviour.

Please note emphatically it is not the case that non-verbal elements in all senses convey the bulk of the message, even though this is how his conclusions are frequently misinterpreted. For instance, when delivering a lecture or presentation, the textual content of the lecture is delivered entirely verbally, but the non-verbal cues are very
important in conveying the speakers’ attitude towards what they are saying,
notably their belief or conviction.

Attitudes and Congruence

According to Mehrabian, these three elements account differently for our liking for the person who puts forward a message concerning their feelings. Words account for 7%, tone of voice accounts for 38%, and body language accounts for 55% of the liking. They
are often abbreviated as the “3 Vs” for Verbal, Vocal & Visual.

For effective and meaningful communication about emotions, these three parts used in expressing the message need to support each other – they have to be “congruent”. In case of any incongruence, the receiver of the message might be irritated by ‘two
messages’ coming from two different channels, giving cues in two different directions.

The following example should help illustrate incongruence in verbal and non-verbal communication.

• Verbal: “I do not have a problem with you!”
• Non-verbal: person avoids any eye-contact, looks anxious, has
  a closed body language, etc.

It is more likely that the receiver will trust the predominant form of communication, which according to Mehrabian’s findings is non-verbal (38% + 55%), rather than the literal meaning of the words (7%). This is known as “the 7%-38%-55% rule”.

It is important to say that in the respective study, Mehrabian conducted experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike) and that the above, disproportionate influence exerted by the tone of voice and body language
becomes effective only when the situation is ambiguous. Such ambiguity appears
mostly when the words spoken are inconsistent with the tone of voice or body
language of the speaker (sender).

Non-verbal communication is usually understood as the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless (mostly visual) messages – i.e. spoken language is not the only source of communication. There are other means too. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touches (Haptic
communication), by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact. Meaning can also be conveyed through object or artifacts (such as clothings, hairstyles or architectural designs).
Speech contains non-verbal elements known as paralanguage, such as voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Dance is also regarded as a form of non-verbal communication.

Non-verbal communication is the most important skill that a presenter needs to develop to enhance his speech quality and make it to be easily understood. The results of Prof. Albert Mehrabian’s study shows:

During a presentation, a vast amount of information is visually conveyed by your appearance, manner and physical behaviour as you deliver your verbal message. Your body lanuguage is an effective tool for adding emphasis and clarity to your speech. It is the most powerful instrument for convincing an audience of your earnestness, sincerity
and enthusiasm.

However, if your physical actions are distracting or they contradict your verbal message, your body language can rule over your words. Whether your objective is to inform, persuade, entertain, motivate, or inspire, your body language and the personality you project, must be appropriate to what you want to say.

If you want to be a better speaker, you must understand how your body can speak. You must learn how to manage and control your body language.

For more information on how you can be a better communicator or presenter, click and get you copy of Instant Guide for Instant Speakernow.