It looks like the original study dealt only with "communication of feelings and attitudes" i.e. emotional content: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabia

It looks like the original study dealt only with "communication of feelings and attitudes" i.e. emotional content: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian#Misinterpretation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian#Misinterpretat... I don't see any evidence that this applies to communication in general.