# Case 004 research candidate: the Mehrabian 7-38-55 rule

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## Source content

# Case 004 research candidate: the Mehrabian 7-38-55 rule

Status: content-addressed author research packet complete; independent review pending. This note
does not admit or publish Case 004.

The candidate asks what the familiar `7% words / 38% tone / 55% face` formula actually represented
in the examined editions. It does not ask for one universal percentage of communication.

The packet preserves five distinct layers:

1. P1 studied attitude inferred from inconsistent isolated words and tone.
2. P2 studied attitude inferred from facial and vocal cues carried with the neutral word `maybe`.
3. P2's discussion proposed `.07/.38/.55` as a cross-study weighted sum; neither experiment
   tested all three channels together.
4. The 1971 book repeated and narrowed the formula, while the author's public page later stated
   that it does not apply outside feelings or attitudes.
5. A direct all-channel reconsideration reported equations that varied by message, while related
   studies found that cue-strength and attitude context changed the verbal/nonverbal ratio.

The exact derivation of `.07` remains unresolved and receives no evidential credit. The packet
also distinguishes two participant-data roots from full independence: the papers share an author,
a grant, a linked program, related methods and scales, a neutral-word stimulus, and an explicit
citation/derivation path. Participant and speaker overlap is recorded only to the extent the
sources disclose it.

Public recirculation examples establish that the broad rule traveled; they do not establish that
it is scientifically true. Their evidence credit is mechanically fixed at zero.

The author recommendation is to proceed only if a fresh independent review closes every source,
span, calculation, dependence edge, and limitation. A later dossier should teach how a narrow,
qualified proposal became a universal-sounding rule—not replace it with a different unsupported
percentage.

Full records and the pending review gate are in
[`research/how-we-know/mehrabian-7-38-55/`](../../research/how-we-know/mehrabian-7-38-55/README.md).