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Words Are Only 7% (?) of Your Communication

brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,719
edited August 2011 in All Encompassing Trip
The notion that words are only 7% of communication is fascinating. The rest of communication, it is said, is made up of tone-of-voice, body language and facial expression. (This information was used a number of times to good effect in teaching communication skills when I was the program assistant for a Human Services program at our local college.)

The exact percentages attributed to various parts of communication are academically debated but there certainly is some truth to the idea that words only constitute part of our communication and that the other components are very important. I sometimes wonder how keyboarding our thoughts affects communication in on-line forums like this one. I suppose use of italics, BOLD PRINT, color, and faces :o can add a bit to that word percentage but I still wonder how much of what we say to each other in this type of format is misunderstood.

Any thoughts?
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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Comments

  • voidofmanvoidofman Posts: 4,009
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,719
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.

    Interesting. What would a smiley for sarcasm look like?
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • voidofmanvoidofman Posts: 4,009
    brianlux wrote:
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.

    Interesting. What would a smiley for sarcasm look like?

    Probably a smiley face since sarcasm is usually delivered with an odd smile.
  • voidofmanvoidofman Posts: 4,009
    And yes I completely agree with the words are only a part of it, tone is a major factor, especially with children. If you are trying to discipline a child using a playful voice they hear the tone first and play off that.

    I've messed with dogs where you use the playful, "that's a good boy!" voice but call them fucking morons and they wag their tail because they think they are being praised.
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,719
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    I've messed with dogs where you use the playful, "that's a good boy!" voice but call them fucking morons and they wag their tail because they think they are being praised.

    Yes! :lol: I've done that with our store cat (she's so cool, really the best), by saying in a really sweet voice, "Oh Goldie, you're such a worthless little piece of shit", and she replies, "purr!, purr!".
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • 8181 Posts: 58,276
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.


    you don't say :lolno:







    :lol:
    81 is now off the air

    Off_Air.jpg
  • voidofmanvoidofman Posts: 4,009
    81 wrote:
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.


    you don't say :lolno:

    :lol:

    What's messed up is that I wasn't being sarcastic there (or here)

    Kind of a useless fact.
  • 8181 Posts: 58,276
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    81 wrote:
    VoidOfMan wrote:
    Sarcasm is nearly undetectable online.


    you don't say :lolno:

    :lol:

    What's messed up is that I wasn't being sarcastic there (or here)

    Kind of a useless fact.


    i know...i was just trying out the sarcasim smilie
    81 is now off the air

    Off_Air.jpg
  • voidofmanvoidofman Posts: 4,009
    It worked. lol.
  • mca47mca47 Posts: 13,282
    This idea needs to be a class taught to all girls in grade school.
    For whatever reason chicks have this idea that flooding the room with constant yacking is some for of communication?
    At the end of the class, there is one math question:

    If 7% of what you say is truly communicated, and 5% of that 7% is actually absorbed by the male sex, what percentage of words should you be saying? :D:lol:
  • Weird_HenryWeird_Henry Posts: 308
    mca47 wrote:
    This idea needs to be a class taught to all girls in grade school.
    For whatever reason chicks have this idea that flooding the room with constant yacking is some for of communication?
    At the end of the class, there is one math question:

    If 7% of what you say is truly communicated, and 5% of that 7% is actually absorbed by the male sex, what percentage of words should you be saying? :D:lol:

    You're being sarcastic...right? sarcastic-smiley.thumbnail.jpg?w=530
    Note to self: Don't die
  • 8181 Posts: 58,276
    mca47 wrote:
    If 7% of what you say is truly communicated, and 5% of that 7% is actually absorbed by the male sex, what percentage of words should you be saying? :D:lol:


    depends....

    do we absorb a higher % when there are fewer words or does the % remain flat regardless of the number of words?
    81 is now off the air

    Off_Air.jpg
  • unlost dogsunlost dogs Posts: 12,553
    You should see my expression... Right now.

    #€|*{[+*# mobile app lack of smilies
    15 years of sharks 06/30/08 (MA), 05/17/10 (Boston), 09/03/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/04/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/30/12 (Missoula), 07/19/13 (Wrigley), 10/15/13 (Worcester), 10/16/13 (Worcester), 10/25/13 (Hartford), 12/4/13 (Vancouver), 12/6/13 (Seattle), 6/26/14 (Berlin), 6/28/14 (Stockholm), 10/16/14 (Detroit)
  • 8181 Posts: 58,276
    unlost dogs wrote:
    #€|*{[+*# mobile app lack of smilies


    hehe
    81 is now off the air

    Off_Air.jpg
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    friday.gif
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,719
    pandora wrote:
    friday.gif


    Nicely done and almost there! Lets see, words, body language facial expression... you almost have it Pandora. We just need a little volume to get tone of voice! :D
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Even in written language, the semiotics of communicative acts are complex. Roman Jakobson argued that prose language works on a syntagmatic axis: meaning is facilitated and generated by the syntactical relations of words in a phrase, sentence, paragraph, semantic field or text. He also argued that poetry works on a paradigmatic axis: although poems use syntax to construct meaning, they push poetic style to the foreground in conveying 'unspoken' communication of powerful feelings. In poetry, meaning comes perhaps more intuitively and on the level of physical response, by the selection of equivalent sound patternings, formulae or repeated instances of tropes such as image or symbol that trigger our unconscious in some way. I suppose our brains register some non- verbal and pre- linguistic, emotional associations with repetitions of vowels or consonants in poetry (or some rhetorical, speechifying prose), and we 'hear' or 'feel' the effects of poetic discourse on a non- verbal level. The power of persuasive prose or poetic language is that it seeks even in the written form to transcend its own limits and hopes to effect as visceral response in the reader as spoken language - with all its paralinguistic signifers such as register, tone, timbre, volume, pitch and dynamic - even though it's just squiggles on a page or screen.

    Now, back to eating this cheeseburger. Nomnomnom, cheeseburger.
  • ShimmyMommyShimmyMommy Posts: 7,505
    Does 10C sell these, or is it free of charge? ;):lol:

    sarcasm_detector.jpg
    Lots of love, light and hugs to you all!
  • chadwickchadwick Posts: 21,157
    interrogation techniques
    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."
    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,719
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    Even in written language, the semiotics of communicative acts are complex. Roman Jakobson argued that prose language works on a syntagmatic axis: meaning is facilitated and generated by the syntactical relations of words in a phrase, sentence, paragraph, semantic field or text. He also argued that poetry works on a paradigmatic axis: although poems use syntax to construct meaning, they push poetic style to the foreground in conveying 'unspoken' communication of powerful feelings. In poetry, meaning comes perhaps more intuitively and on the level of physical response, by the selection of equivalent sound patternings, formulae or repeated instances of tropes such as image or symbol that trigger our unconscious in some way. I suppose our brains register some non- verbal and pre- linguistic, emotional associations with repetitions of vowels or consonants in poetry (or some rhetorical, speechifying prose), and we 'hear' or 'feel' the effects of poetic discourse on a non- verbal level. The power of persuasive prose or poetic language is that it seeks even in the written form to transcend its own limits and hopes to effect as visceral response in the reader as spoken language - with all its paralinguistic signifers such as register, tone, timbre, volume, pitch and dynamic - even though it's just squiggles on a page or screen.

    Now, back to eating this cheeseburger. Nomnomnom, cheeseburger.

    That's a mouth full even without facial expression, body language or tone of voice. Oh yeah, so is the cheeseburger!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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