ISSA Yoga Certification Practice Exam 2025 – Complete Preparation Guide

The choice centered on verbal communication through words only is indeed the correct one when looking at Mehrabian's research on the components of communication. According to his findings, the total meaning of a message is derived from three elements: verbal (words), vocal (tone of voice), and non-verbal (body language and facial expressions). Specifically, Mehrabian discovered that non-verbal elements—body language and vocal tone—carry a significant portion of the communication's emotional content, with only a small percentage attributable to the actual words spoken.

In this context, verbal language is more direct and can often fail to convey the emotional nuances that are communicated through non-verbal means. Words alone do not encompass the entirety of the message being conveyed, as they often lack the emotive power conveyed through vocal tone and physical gestures. Thus, communication is least influenced by verbal language when we remove the nuanced contexts provided by vocal tone and body language, which are pivotal to understanding the full intent and feeling behind a message.