Nonverbal communication tests as predictors of success in psychology and counseling

Abstract

Six tests of nonverbal communication skills were investigated in an attempt to improve prediction of success for psychologists and counselors. The subjects were graduate students at two different schools; the criterion variables were faculty members’ judgments of the students’ academic work, interpersonal relations, personal characteristics, and "predicted effectiveness" in the profession. Faculty ratings were collected several months after students were tested. One of the six nonverbal communication tests predicted faculty ratings of several characteristics at both schools. This test was uncorrelated with the Graduate Record Examinations and only weakly correlated with the Group Embedded Figures Test, as were most of the other nonverbal communication tests.