One of the most important ways people have of communicating is done non-verbally, or without the use of words. Just as a bird watcher delights in watching birds, so the non-verbalist delights in watching the non-verbal signals of human beings. But instead of going into the countryside, the non-verbalist watches people at social functions at beaches, on television, at the office or anywhere that people interact. The person who studies such examples of human behavior wants to learn about the actions of his fellow humans so that he may ultimately learn more about himself and find ways to improve his relationships with others.
One of the first and most important works on this topic was Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animal, published in 1872. In it Darwin believed that expressions of emotion are similar among humans, regardless of culture. He based his belief on man’s evolutionary origin. This work led to modern-day studies of facial expressions and body language, when, in the 1950s, two researchers, Brunet and Taguiri, wrote, after thirty years of study, that the best available research showed that there were no unchanging patterns accompanying specific emotions.
Some fourteen years later, American researchers found that new research supported Darwin’s old belief. They had conducted studies in five widely different continents and concluded. "Observers in these cultures recognize some of the same emotions when they are shown a set of facial photographs." Researchers all over the world have noted and recorded almost one million non-verbal signals. Albert Mehrabian found that the total effect of a human message is about 7% verbal (words only), 38% vocal (including tone of voice, inflection, etc.) and 55% non-verbal (gestures and body language). One Professor Birdwhistle estimated that the average person actually speaks words for a total of about ten or eleven minutes a day, and that the average sentence takes only about 2.5 seconds. He also found that actual face-to-face conversation between people amounted to about 35% while over 65% of communication is done non-verbally. Which of the following is NOT true______