{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "mehrabian-7-38-55-rule",
  "slug": "mehrabian-7-38-55-rule",
  "url": "https://groundedkit.com/claims/mehrabian-7-38-55-rule/",
  "api_url": "https://groundedkit.com/api/claims/mehrabian-7-38-55-rule.json",
  "claim": "Only 7% of communication is words (7-38-55 rule)",
  "commonly_cited_as": "\"93% of communication is nonverbal\"",
  "verdict": "misquoted",
  "verdict_definition": "Primary source found, but the way it is quoted changes the subject, metric, population or precision.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "rating": {
    "value": 2,
    "best": 5,
    "worst": 1
  },
  "origin": {
    "publisher": "Albert Mehrabian (UCLA)",
    "title": "Mehrabian & Wiener 1967; Mehrabian & Ferris 1967; Silent Messages (1971/1981)",
    "year": "1967"
  },
  "quote": "was actually concerned with feelings and attitudes",
  "method": "Small lab studies in which listeners judged a speaker's feelings from single words with inconsistent tone or facial expression.",
  "drift": [
    "Scope: findings about judging feelings from inconsistent cues generalized to all communication"
  ],
  "interest": "n/a",
  "safe_rephrasing": "Mehrabian's 1960s experiments concern how people judge feelings when words and tone conflict; he says the ratios don't apply to communication in general.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Max Atkinson: Mehrabian's moans about the myth (2009, quoting Mehrabian)",
      "url": "https://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2009/08/mehrabians-moans-about-myth.html",
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "kind": "stat_check",
  "as_of": "1967",
  "last_checked": "2026-10-16",
  "stale": false,
  "date_reviewed": "2026-10-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}