The Effects of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) Expertise on Social Skills and Self-Reported Quality of Life: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This exploratory study examines the effects of nonviolent communication (NVC) practice on social skills and self-reported quality-of-life variables. Using a combination of implicit and explicit measures, this study evaluates whether NVC expertise leads to improvements in cognitive, emotional, and quality-of-life metrics. Participants included beginners (N = 53) and experts (N = 30) in NVC. Evaluations spanned spontaneous emotional identification, causal attribution, visuo-spatial perspective-taking, personality dimensions (French Big Five Inventory), emotional expression categorization, mentalizing, relationship closeness, social power, and quality of life. Analysis involved Bayesian model selection to identify group effects, with additional stratifications for age, sex, and group interactions. NVC expertise was associated with three main effects. Experts demonstrated lower levels of neuroticism and higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness compared to beginners. Male experts were more likely to explicitly reference their adopted perspective and reported higher perceived social power than male beginners. Experts reported reduced daily fatigue and improved restorative sleep compared to beginners, particularly male experts compared to male beginners. Furthermore, significant absence of differences was observed for socio-cognitive skills (e.g. visuo-spatial perspective-taking, and emotional face categorization) or certain dispositional traits (e.g. openness and extraversion). These findings suggest that NVC practice does not directly enhance socio-cognitive abilities but instead influences metacognitive reflection, emotional regulation, and explicit communication. The absence of group effects in certain domains may reflect ceiling effects or the nature of dominant human tendencies in attribution and empathy. NVC offers long-term benefits at the metacognitive level, such as enhanced emotional regulation and clearer communication, while also contributing to reduced fatigue. These findings highlight the value of NVC for enhancing emotional well-being and resilience in social contexts. Future research should investigate these effects with specifically designed tools and explore causal mechanisms underlying gender-specific outcomes.