Point
of departure from NLP Summary page to this page
At
the information processing level
of the neurons,
there is no differencebetween
"fact" and "fantasy"!
In
this section you will learn to:
Recognize,
understand and apply selected terms and concepts used in the practice
of
NLP Gain
practice in exchanging dialogue that apply NLP techniques Recall the
following terms that are used in
the study of human communication: Referent:
the thing that exists
"in the world" i.e.,
sometimes called the "territory",
which is the perceptual world or "reality" of the communicator Symbol:sometimes
called the "map"
which is the symbol or word whose semantic "meaning" in language is
entirely
dependent on the receiver's experience with the symbol. A symbolic
"map"
of the "territory" is vulnerable to the accuracy of thereceiver'slink
between the symbol to his/her own referent experience (territory) to
which
that symbol relates. Icon:
a visual symbol in the form of an images representing the referent. The
Paradox of Communication:Use
your browser's "Back"
button to return to
this point the dynamic by
which interpersonal communication
suffers from distortions which are created and amplified in proportion
to the discrepancy of a symbol as understood by the sender, but as interpreted
differently by the receiver of a communication
NLP is the creation of two behavioral
scientists,Dr.
Richard Bandler,
a Gestalt therapist and
computer specialist, and Dr. John Grinder, a linguist. Together, they
asked
a fundamental question as to just what it is that makes effective
therapeutic
interventions effective. To answer that question they intensively
observed
the techniques of three acknowledged world class therapists over an
extended
period of time. The therapists were Virginia
Satir, family systems
therapist, Gregory
Bateson, psychologist,
and hypnotherapist
Milton
H. Erickson, M.D. They
interpreted their common
practices in accordance with the laws of neurobiology (micro level) and
holistic systems behavior (macro level) and the result became NLP. They
have written the substance of their theory in the following major
references:
The
Structure of Magic: A Book About Language and Therapy, (2
Vols), 1975,
Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books. The first volume of this set
presents the language dimensions of NLP, the second volume presents the
"meta-communication" dimensions, i.e., the emotional context of
language
expressing as posture, gesture and vocal qualities. Frogs
Into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming, 1979, John O.
Stevens (Ed),
Moab,UT: Real People Press. This work is basically an edited transcript
of a workshop run by the authors edited to pointing up key elements of
their theory as evident in various demonstrations of the techniques. Reframing:
Neuro Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning,
1982,
Steve Andreas and Connirae Andreas (Eds), Moab, UT: Real People Press.
This reference focuses on the details of defining a client's frame and
the methods of recasting negative and limiting frames into empowering
and
transforming frames. Gordon,
David, 1978,
Therapeutic Metaphors: Helping Others Through the Looking
Glass, (Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications.) This work develops
the use
of metaphor as a major resource in managing the reframing process.
Client's
who resist rational confrontation as to the real effects of their
pathogenic
frames of reality, can more effectively and safely be introduced to
alternative
empowering frames by the skillful use of metaphor tailored to address
their
special needs.
NLP
represents a combination of techniques
that can empower a mediator/counselor to change limiting frames of mind
(referent systems) and associated beliefs held by a disputant/client
into
empowering frames of mind and behaviors. When individuals who are in
conflict
present themselves, their visible posture, gestures and evident emotion
in their facial expressions, when combined with their verbal
descriptions
of their issues, can give the NLP prepared mediator more effective
insight
into the phenomenological roots of their difficulties. For example,
their
language and semantics are often characterized as being poorly
formed.
"Poorly formed" means that the words they use do not accurately
represent
the conceptual link to their true inner reality of feelings in a clear
and explicit manner--even to them. Thus they are bound up in an
emotional
sea created by events that are often experienced by them as vague,
stressful
and threatening. Then their outlook is typically one of defensive and
hopeless
despair in which they tend to amplify only adverse or limited
possibilities.
These then link back to their associated negative emotions and distress
to amplify their feelings of helplessness. The effect is to leave them
disempowered, immobilized, and unable to act effectively in their own
behalf.
The
function of NLP in the context
of dispute resolution is to have the mediator use NLP techniques in
combination
with the initial and priority use of feeling reflections used to build
rapport and trust. Immediate
use of NLP techniques, because of their probing and challenging nature,
without having first developed the essential trust with its tacit
permission
to probe, will be far less successful than it can otherwise be.When
the mediator is comfortable that an adequate trust relationship has
been
built and is stable, then NLP guided responses can be used to help
focus
the disputants to discover the "Real" nature of their conflicted
feelings
and understandings. In general, NLP serves to:
Force
the disputants to be explicit in describing their history and
conditions
(referent experiences) that are relevant to the conflict Effectively
link their confused feelings of anger, distrust and fear to their
internally
and perhaps unconsciously challenged real needs and values giving rise
to the symptomatic issues which they experience as conflict.
Foundation Concepts in NLP
Information
Strategies:
Individuals
are different in the manner by which their nervous systems process
incoming
data and transform sensory data into information that is significant
for
them. HIP (Human
Information Processing) is
one example which
is symptomatic of such differences. Locus of control (i.e. internal or
external) is another symptom. Locus
of motivation
(intrinsic or extrinsic)
is
still another. In addition, there are also: perceived
locus of control being
internal or external,
and motivational sources being perceived as either intrinsic or
extrinsic.
NLP is a paradigm and process for understanding the nature of these
differences
in a systematic way in order to facilitate the accuracy of
interpersonal
communication. Representational
system: Individuals
vary from each
other by differences in how they store information. Incoming data is
transformed
to be stored as information in one of the following three dominate
ways:
visually,
aurally or kinesthetically.
Go
to Language Illustrations of this Concept(Use
your browser's "Back" button to return to this point.)
Anchoring:The
process by which the nature of a specific stimulus, that has explicit
information
significance for the individual, acts to trigger a standard and
predictable
response or coping mechanism which is released and implemented. (A
common
illustration of anchoring is combat veterans and other sense
traumatized
persons suffering symptoms called PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
in which they persistently experience night terrors, flash backs,
spontaneous
extreme grief, and reactive violence among others.) Frame:A
particular portion of a comprehensiveconceptual
and emotional "map"of the individuals reality (territory) which serves
as an explanatory reference for interpreting events in the persons
experience. Problem
Frame: The
nature of a frame that has a dysfunctional
impact on the selecting
and deciding processes
within the individual. Outcomes of their detecting, selecting and
effecting
interaction with their environment are frustrated such they tend not to
have their needs met. "Stuck
State": A
highly stable"frame"
(of reference) that is dysfunctional
such
that the individual may not be aware of its nature and/or cannot
overcome
its influence. Surface
Structure: The
components of language
elements that relate to the superficial events of experience.
In
mediatin these are the intellectualized issues. They are
compared
with the deep structure
that containes the needs
and their associated feelings. Representation of the issues
in dispute
exist at this level. The
surface structure
is only useful for
getting to the deep
structure where needs
are met and issues
vanish. Deep
Structure:
Those components of
language elements that
refer to primal emotional contexts emeshed within the neural strutures
and netwros of the body [Chomsky,
1965]. The
issues are linked to the
primal needs at this level, those that create the disputant's/client's
emotions that are seved by the client's value structure.
Pathological Patterns: These
are patterns of concept formation
and information exchange that are counter-productive in terms of
serving
the person's real needs and values. NLP defines various expressions of
such pathology by the following terms:
Generalizations-
the
pattern by which the characteristics of a specific frame are
generalized
to inappropriately cross and distort other frames and interpretations--
e.g., "Men/women are fundamentally evil." Deletions-the
pattern by which relevant and information significant data literally
disappear
from the processing of an individual-- e.g., "Working here is worse."
(than
what?) The listener is expected to fill in the correct referent. Distortions
(Nominalizations)-a
condition in which
a language frame is created which on the surface structure of language
(symbolic representation) masks the deep structural representation
(feeling
link to the referent event), i.e., the reality reference.
Nominalizations
serve to explain, justify, excuse or disallow speaker from acting
correctly
or effectively in his/her own behalf. Distortions
can often be recognized in communication as the inappropriate
representation of a process by defining it as an event, e.g.
"Reporting in my Medical Center is punishing." i.e., the declared
process
(giving a report) is transformed and presented simplified and distorted
as an event. But the "event" has certain implied conditions not made
explicit
for the receiver. It is not the "event" of giving a report that is
problematic,
but the speaker's experience of the process involving all factors
(preparation,
topic, goal, audience, impediments, context conditions, feedback
perceived,
and especially the history of the speaker's experience with the
reporting
process.) The feelings associated with the defined event somehow
emotionally
conflict with the speaker's value system. Presuppositions-the
characteristic of a frame that inappropriately or inaccurately presumes
the preexistence of a debilitating or dysfunctional condition; or
unrealistic
and unwarranted beneficial condition Qualifiers,
e.g., "But"-
The nature of a frame
in which an enabling condition exits but which the individual discounts
for irrelevant, inappropriate or invalid reasons *Mind
reading- The
expectation on the part of an individual that his/her communication
partner
should know his/her thoughts in the absence of required communication,
or that they have identical thoughts and interpretations about the
world. *Cause/effect
presupposition-
The characteristic
of a frame that leads to an unwarranted causal link between a
particular
event and an expected outcome *Lost
performative-
A
communication in which the responsible agent is lost or distorted from
conscious identification, e.g., "They won't let me do it." and then
presumes
that his/her modthe characteristic of a frame that inappropriately or
inaccurately
presumes the preexistence of a debilitating or dysfunctioel is and
should
be everyone's, i.e. all should agree about "they." May be thought of as
a special case of mind reading
*Examples
of loss of semantic well-formedness in communicating the person's
"reality"
Problem Frame:A
frame whose nature is such that the decisions and behaviors which
follow
from it are or become dysfunctional and problematic for the owner.
Reframing:The
process by which there are introduced by a counselor a series of new
frames
that are incompatible with a problem frame in the repertoire of a
client,
and the nature of which produces increased personal effectiveness,
healing
and well being.
Chaining:
The
systematic linking of a series of sequential "reframes" that have the
combined
effect of dismantling a series of problem frames and which remove a
"stuck
state," The definition and chaining a series of outcome oriented Frames
to achieve the following:
What
is desired How
to know when achieved Why
it is wanted What
stops Who
is to blame
Well-formed
outcome statement: The
nature of reframing such that the positive and healing outcome can be
insured
and predicted to occur, and which must therefore include the following
qualities:
Stated
in visible terms Desired
by the client Stated
in serial mode Balanced
(retains beneficial aspect of the negative frame) Ecologically
sound (does not disrupt other beneficial frames Accessible
by multiple roots
Visually observed postures symptomatic
of pathological personalities (from Virginia Satir) Such
persons will represent the
following postures as evidence of their repertories of "solutions" as
they
relate to the symptomatic issues that define the visible elements of
conflict:
Placator:
A
meo
culpo posture of constantly yielding and never challenging to
get support
for one's own needs and interests, experienced as the "toilet bowl" of
the world Blamer:Always
externally oriented in projecting cause for adverse conditions onto
others
or onto situations Computer:Complete
blockage of affect (emotion,) inability to express any level of emotion
in response to experiences that would normally call for a visible level
of emotional reaction Distracter:Constantly
de-focused on irrelevant issues or circumstances, or erratically
focused
on wholly irrelevant factors as a preoccupation
Summary of Correcting Techniques
Anchoring-linking
positive outcome behavior to a regularly occurring stimulus Association
and pairing-
linking
referent experiences that lead to a positive mental state and outcome Change
History- forced
reinterpretation of memories, substituting negative histories with
reinterpretations
from a positive perspective Reframing-changing
the conceptual orientation of an individual to a situation at the level
of the neurons Chaining-sequential
linking of frames, i.e. leading to the creation of an "outcome frame" Metaphor-creating
a related scenario that has the effect of bypassing the intellectual
and
emotional resistance; acts to expand a person's consciousness about the
positive implications of their "reality" for them. Posture
of excellence-
arranging
the body into a dominant posture; tends to alter mood from negative
affect
to positive affect Visual/kinesthetic
Disassociation-
forcing incompatible
representational systems to become congruent in favor of the positive
empowering
representational system, e.g., the fearof
increasing height (visual
experience)
in a departing airplane is supplanted by the comforting sound of power
and safety represented by the solid sound of the engines. Hypnosis-
Directly
impacting the persons unconscious (direct impact on the neurons) by
using
suggestion to nurture desirable feelings and behavior in order to make
them conscious.
INTERACTIVE PRACTICE
EXERCISES
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NLP Interactive Practice Exercises
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MEDIATION PAGE Additional
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Point
of departure from NLP Summary page to this pageRecognize, understand and apply selected terms and concepts used in the practice of NLP
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To
NLP Interactive Practice Exercises
Point
of departure from Mediation Master page to this page
for Outrageous Truth: A Mystical Paradigm
for
Outrageous TruthL: A Mystical Paradigm