Hello World!
As my first post, I thought of putting out an old (Wed, Oct 17, 2012) unpublished short paper on NLP, which was actually an assignment back in grad school. I will usually blog here about technical topics in the security domain.
Anyway, if you like you can download it as a PDF document from this link https://www.dropbox.com/s/wbefhijxm75xjco/NLP%2C%20The%20Neuro-Linguistic%20Propaganda%21.pdf (SHA1:B134BFCEAD0C6FC154330B9E997195046273EE9B).
NLP: The Neuro-Linguistic Propaganda!
Abstract— Neuro-Linguistic Programming, simply known as NLP, widely claimed to be indispensable for anyone who wishes to communicate better,improve his/her work and personal life. In this short article, the present author will adopt a skeptical point of view regarding the “magical” power often associated with NLP “technology” in controlling peoples’ behaviors.
1. Introduction
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a “modeling language” for interpersonal communications concerned with the study of successful behavioral patterns and ways of positive thinking [1]. NLP can be seen as a user’s manual for the human brain, that helps unleash the inner power of positive thinking, making changes, and achieving the results that a person wants in his/her life [2]. In NLP, the conscious mind represents the goal setter (where goals are being set), while the unconscious mind is the goal getter (where actions are being motivated to get goals achieved) [1].
The initial work on NLP started during the 1960’s and 1970’s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The goal was to identify and confirm aspects of peoples’ (plural) behaviors and ways of thinking, as well as how these can be changed to a specific result [3].
NLP states that every person has a Preferred Representation System, or PRS, which can be used to explain and predict how someone would experience the present, remember the past and plan the future [4]. Supposedly, the words the person tends to use or the direction of one’s eye movements can indicates a person’s PRS [2].
In the recent years, NLP drew the attention of, not only, psychotherapists, business people, salespersons, and governments but also regular people seeking an easy way to quit a habit, adjust their lives, or a short path for success.
However, without regulations or sound scientific proofs and with the media involved, NLP became the new buzzword utilized by practitioners, self-help book writers, trainers and gurus to lure people into the metaphor for NLP training as the “software for the brain” or the “Magic Key” to control others [2, 4].
2. Magic Bullet Theory and NLP
The Hypodermic Needle Theory or the Magic Bullet Theory is a model of mass communications holds that media broadcast can directly affects the opinions and actions of viewers, thus, information can be “injected” into the receivers, and then steers their actions. The theory is rooted back to the mid and late 1930’s during WWI propaganda and Nazi’s use of the mass media [5].
A similar assumption was made in NLP. Accordingly, the tone of voice can be used to “inject” commands into people just like injecting commands into a SQL database. Furthermore, that NLP promotes the use of embedded commands to influence a target to think a certain way or take a certain action [6].
However, scientific researches and studies have shown that the human behavior responses to the internal and external stimuli in more complex ways than passive acceptance [2, 4, 5].
3. Conclusions
This concludes my thoughts regarding Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I think NLP theory looks pretty plausible, at first blush. Nonetheless, the lack of sound scientific evidences supporting NLP theory and the desperate legal attempts to hog NLP as Bandler’s intellectual property propound that NLP is simply just a clever bunk.
4. References
[1] The Empowerment Group (2012), what is NLP. [Online]. Available: http://www.nlp.com/what-is-nlp/
[2] Carroll, B. (2011), The Skeptic’s Dictionary: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). [Online]. Available: http://www.skepdic.com/neurolin.html
[3] NLP Center (2006), NLP History and Development. [Online]. Available: http://www.nlp-center.net/articles/nlp-history-and-development.html
[4] M. Parkinson, “A critical analysis of the background of NLP,” The Skeptic, vol. 16, no. 3, 2003. [Online]. Available: http://www.skeptic.org.uk/magazine/onlinearticles/articlelist/493-intro-to
[5] Lewandowski, N. (2009), Magic Bullet Theory in Mass Media. [Online]. Available: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5408403_magic-bullet-theory-mass-media.html
[6] C. Hadnagy. “Mind Tricks: Psychological Principles Used in Social Engineering,” in Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking, 1st Ed. New York: Wiley, December 2010, Ch. 5, pp. 136–143.
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