Communication: the 7-38-55 rule

Self-tutoring about people skills: the tutor mentions the 7-38-55 rule about communication.

In a situation that involves communicating feelings, the person receiving the information gets 7% of the meaning from the words they hear, 38% from the tone of the voice, and 55% from the speaker’s facial expression. This goes back to a UCLA psychologist, Albert Mehrabian, back in 1967.

An interesting complexity herein is the potential for mixed messages: often people say words to one effect, with a tone that suggests a different meaning. Another possibility is saying something that sounds horrible, word-wise, but smiling or laughing while doing so. Such possibilities for unclear communication seem endless. That’s people skills, though:)

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Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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