John:
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Okay, we need to talk.
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There is a popular myth misconception that
has been going around the speaking world
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for years, and it is this, that 7% of your
communication is the words that you speak.
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Therefore, meaning 97% of your
communication is your tone of
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voice and your facial expressions.
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And this is not true.
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So stay with me In this short video, I'm
gonna break down for you why it's not true
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and what that research actually meant.
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so in this short video, I really just want
to explain to you where that comes from
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and why it has been so popularly spread.
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We probably will take a look at a few more
of these myths and misconceptions that
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get commonly spread around in the speaking
world and in often in the personal
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development world as well, particularly.
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this has come from work by a
psychologist called Albert Mehrabian,
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who was studying communication.
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And the communication was about
determining the emotion of the speaker
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when they were speaking on stage.
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And so the words themselves turned out
to be only about 7% of what helped people
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to determine the emotion of the speaker.
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It was actually the facial expressions and
the tonality that helped people to be able
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to determine the emotion of the person
speaking, and that's where this came from.
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So it isn't about your
communication being, 93% facial
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expressions and tone of voice.
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It's more about the emotional intent
or the emotional state of the speaker
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being determined by the facial
expressions and by the tone of voice.
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So if, I was to say the words, Hey
John, you did a really good job.
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So fairly, fairly straight laced.
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There's not much vocal tonality there
and not much facial expression there.
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What are you determined by that?
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You just hear the words.
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You have to take it on the words.
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So probably most of what you infer
from that is somebody saying,
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Hey, you did a really good job.
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If I had to say it this way, Hey
John, you did a really good job.
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You notice there was some tonality there?
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There was some facial expression there.
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How about if I say it this way?
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The same words.
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Hey, John.
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You did a really good job.
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Different tonality,
different facial expressions.
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We determine a bit of sarcasm,
but the words are the same.
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So you understand that the words create
a certain amount of meaning, but we
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are determining the intent and the
emotionality of the speaker by the facial
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expressions and the vocal tonality.
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The study that Mehrabian did showed
that about 55% of communication in this
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way was from your facial expressions
and 38% from your tone and voice.
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And that's where this myth has come from.
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So it is not actually your tone of
voice, or your facial expressions
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that are conveying the communication,
your words will do that.
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You could give a whole talk in
presentation with no facial expressions.
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You could be botoxed up to the
hilt and not doing a single facial
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expression, and you could speak
with a monotone, and the words would
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pretty much still mean the same thing.
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But, when you add in the tonality, the
tone of voice, when you add in facial
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expressions, you add depth, you add range,
you add emotional connection into this,
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and people can tell what you're really
thinking, what you're really meaning.
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And it does help to clarify some of the
communication and more the intention and
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the emotion of the person communicating.
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So if you ever find yourself saying
that only 7% of your communication
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is the words you speak, remind
yourself, no, it is not that.
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only 7% of your communication
helps people to determine.
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The emotionality or the
emotional intent of the speaker.
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The rest is done with tonality and
body language or facial expressions.
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So let's put this myth to bed and fair
enough if you have been repeating this
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or maybe even teaching this, and I
certainly got taught it in one of my
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very first presentation skills training.
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And now that I know what it should
actually be, and like I, I'm very
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like, I think people should have
really checked up on this before
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they ever started teaching it, but it
gets spread around as common science.
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But as soon as we start to pull it
apart, it makes no sense whatsoever
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because I could, I could do this
whole video going Mm mm mm And you're
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not gonna understand a damn thing.
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And even if I add facial expressions
to that, you are not gonna get what the
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meaning of this is without the words.
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Words are critical in your communication.
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They may not be a hundred percent
of your communication of how we
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communicate, but they are most of it,
probably more like 98% with the other
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bits enhancing our communication.
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So don't buy into these myths.
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And don't keep spreading
them around either.
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And, feel free to challenge people when
they say that 93% of your communication
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is nonverbal because it is bullshit.