Lesson 1 NLP

Lesson 1

Representational systems, preferred/primary system and predicates:

The ways we take in, store and code information in our mind is through our

five senses - seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling - these

senses are known as 'representational systems' or 'modalities' in NLP. We

use our senses outwardly to perceive the world, and inwardly to

're-present' experience to ourselves. When we think about what we see,

hear and feel, we use these same senses inwardly. Including taste and

smell, all five are represented internally, although we use the main three

seeing, hearing and feeling - most, in that order.

We each have a preference for which sense we use, for the way we think.

Some people are happier with images and pictures, rather than sounds. For

example, if I ask you to describe what you are experiencing as you read,

would you start by describing what you can see, or the sounds, or the

feelings? And which would you give the most attention to in your

description? People we describe as 'kinesthetic' are very aware of

physical sensations, and are more likely to describe the feel of the chair

they are sitting on than the traffic noise down the street, or the

sunlight on the screen. We give clues to our preference by using

particular words and phrases. 'I get the picture' or 'I see what you are

saying' indicate a visual preference. 'I h 454h716e ear what you say' or 'That

wounds great' suggest an auditory preference. Whereas 'It feels right' or

'I grasp the idea' are the sort of phrases you would hear from people with

a kinesthetic preference.

This thinking preference is likely to reflect an actual sensual preference

- which sense you prefer to use when taking in and relating to the outside

world. Some people easily remember faces (visual) whilst others remember

names (usually by the sound, auditory). Some people like to consider a

problems by drawing pictures, organizing diagrams or symbols other than

words. Others like to talk a problem through, perhaps writing down a list

of pros and cons but inwardly 'hearing' what is written. Some people are

good listeners. whilst others are very observant in a visual way. Others

detect subtle feelings, and might well use body language to 'touch'

people.

You may not have thought about this before, in which case you may not know

what your preference us, but this will soon become apparent. The fact is

that we are too busy thinking to think about it! We just think, without

being aware of the process, even though we are doing it all the time with

great skill. So it is no surprise that we do not know how others think,

and tend to assume that they think the same way as we do - that, given the

same facts and arguments, they are eventually bound to see it our way. But

this is not the case. Remember 'the map is NOT the territory'. And one of

the things that makes us very different is our thinking preference - which

senses we prefer to use inwardly. When a person tends to use one internal

sense habitually, this is called their 'preferred' or 'primary' system in

NLP.

You can easily determine someone else's primary/preferred system. Without

letting them know what you are up to, make a mental note of all the words

and figures of speech that suggest a seeing, hearing or feeling

preference. Such words and phrases (called 'predicates' in NLP) are used

so frequently that we usually do not notice them. Some of the expressions

 only make sense when you realise that the person is revealing their

particular preference. 'I see what you are saying' does not make as much

sense as ' I hear what you are saying', until we realise that the person

interprets what is said by putting in into internal images, or pictures.

It is then what he or she 'sees' that makes sense. In a conversation many

such clues are likely to 'appear' (note visual predicate here!). Where

there is a predominance of one kind of phrase, a preference is likely. We

use words to describe our thoughts, so our choice of words will indicate

which representational system/s we are using.

(visual) - 'I see what you mean'

(auditory) - 'That rings a bell'

(kinesthetic) - 'I can grasp that idea'

(olfactory, smell) - 'I smell a rat'

(gustatory, taste) 'A taste of the good life'

Habitual use of one kind of predicate will indicate a person's

preferred/primary representational system. Words such as 'comprehend',

'understand' etc. are neutral in terms of representational systems.

Neutral words will be translated differently by different people.

Here are a few sensory-based words and phrases, both to illustrate just

how common they are, and to act as a checklist for you to determine

someone else's preferred/primary system. If it sounds like a lot of

trouble, we shall shortly see how you can feel the benefit of this

knowledge, both as it applies to yourself and also to others.

Visual: picture, bright, colour, look, black, vision, eye, scene, vivid,

visualize, imagine, reveal, reflect, clarify, insight, perspective,

notice, see, dark, hazy, focus, shine. 'I see what you mean', 'You'll

look back on this', 'sight for sore eyes', 'shed some light on this'.

Auditory: loud, ring, clear, discuss, tell quiet, say, hear, ask,

remark, click, hearsay, harmony, deaf, tune, dumb, call, rhythm, sound,

wavelength. 'Word for word', 'Hold your tongue', 'On the same wave

length'.

Kinesthetic: touch, push, solid, scrape, heavy, rough, smooth, contract,

move, pressure, handle, thrust, grasp, weight, rub, sticky, warm, cold,

tackle, firm, tangible. 'Hold on a second', 'Warm hearted person',

'smooth operator', 'I will be in touch'.

Olfactory (smell): stale, nosy, fresh, whiff, stink, fishy. 'Smell a

rat', 'Fresh as a daisy'.

Gustatory (taste): sweet, sour, flavour, bitter, taste, chew, swallow,

bite. 'A matter of taste', 'Hard to swallow'.

Neutral (non-sensory-based): sense, think, know, notice, understand,

explain, decide, learn, change, recognize, remember. 'I understand', 'I

cannot make sense of it', 'I learn better this way'.

Eye accessing cues:

We can detect what representational systems a person is using by noticing

their patterns of eye movements. If I ask you to visualize the face of a

schoolteacher, as far back as you can remember, you will probably look

slightly up and to your left. If I ask you to remember his or her voice,

or perhaps the sound of the bell or buzzer signaling the end of class,

 you will probably move your eyes to the left, but not up or down. But if

you are asked to remember the feeling of the surface of your school desk,

or the feel of soap in your hand in the school washroom, or any other past

kinesthetic experience, you will probably, without being aware of it, look

down and to your right. The diagram below shows what these eye movements

look like if you are facing the person. The patterns may be reversed for

left-handed people, who may look right for remembered images and sounds,

and left for constructed images and sounds. Note that eye accessing cues

will be consistent for a person even if they do not follow this diagram.

For example, a left-handed person may look down to his right for internal

dialogue and down to his left for feelings. What ever the person does it

will be consistent for that person and not just a mix of random

movements. All this is to do with accessing different parts of the brain

when we think. It is well researched and is referred to as 'lateral eye

movements' in neurological literature. In NLP these eye movements are

known as 'eye accessing cues'.

Visual constructed images

Constructed sounds

Kinesthetic (feelings and bodily sensations)

Visualization

Visual remembered images

Remembered sounds

Auditory digital (internal dialogue)

Other non-verbal cues:

A persons who thinks visually will usually speak quickly, with the head

up, and using a higher pitch than an auditory person, who will tend to

breathe and speak in a more rhythmic, clear and resonant tone. People who

are 'talking to themselves' are likely to lean their heads to one side, in

a typical listening position - as if holding a telephone conversation. A

kinesthetic person is likely to speak in a slow, deeper tone, relaxed and

with the head down. Although these 'rules' may not always hold true, as

you start observing people and matching what they say to their posture and

tone of voice, you will see just how often these mannerisms are apparent.

So, as well as verbal cues, or predicates, there are also physiological,

or body language cues to thinking. The mind and body are parts of the same

system and affect each other.

Lead system:

Just as we have a preferred/primary representational system for our

conscious thinking, so we also have a preferred means of bringing

information into our conscious thought. This is called the 'lead system'

in NLP, the internal sense that we use as a handle to reach back to a

memory. It is how the information reaches the conscious mind. It is

sometimes called the 'input system', as it supplies the material to think

about consciously. Most people have a 'lead system' and it need not be the

same as the preferred/primary system. For example, you may be a 'feeling

person' who thinks about a holiday experience in terms of feelings. This

is confirmed by the words you use and your body language. But, in

 recalling a memory, you may first use a 'visual' image, which is then

replaced by the comfortable kinesthetic sensing you are more at home with.

In this example the 'visual' system was used as the 'lead system'. So we

each have a preferred representational systems, and also a lead system,

which may or may not be the same. But the good news is that we tend to be

consistent is whatever way we think.

Synesthesia:

Sometimes you may notice that a person seems to use two representational

systems at the same time. For example, he or she may indicate visual eye

movements but use kinesthetic predicates and body language. Termed

'synesthesia', in this case two or more representational systems work in

unison. For instance, a certain sound may have a feel or texture or

colour. In other cases a strong memory may produce a negative

kinesthetic feeling linked with a positive visual memory. In such a case

the person probably doesn't understand why they feel the way they do.

People with synesthesia often have good memories, because the more sensory

'recordings' we can call upon the better we recall memories. And, in any

event, people with extraordinary memories tend to use more than one rep

system - whether or not naturally synesthetic. Memories, of course,

mirror real, multi-sensory life. Similarly, a vivid imagination operates

in multi-sensory mode.

Describing experience using the 4-tuple:

Modalities are the representational systems: visual (V), auditory (A),

kinesthetic (K), olfactory (O) and gustatory (G). We take in information

from the external (e) world using our five senses , and those same five

senses are used internally (i) to process information. We see pictures,

hear sounds, feel feelings and also we are able to smell and taste

internally. Our ongoing experience can be usefully coded as consisting of

some combination of these sensory classes. In NLP we represent and

abbreviate the expression of on-going sensory experience as a '4-tuple'.

The 4-tuple is shown symbolically as:

<A(e,i), V(e,i), K (e,i), O/G (e,i)>

Here the capital letters are abbreviations for the five senses or

representational systems:

A =auditory (hearing), V = Visual (seeing), K = Kinesthetic (feeling),

O/G = Olfactory/Gustatory (smelling/tasting)

The superscripts (in parentheses) 'e' and 'i' indicate whether the

representations are coming from sources external, to us (e = external), as

when we are looking at, listening to, feeling, smelling or tasting

something that is outside of us, or whether they are internally generated,

(i = internal), as when we are remembering or imagining some image, sound,

feeling smell or taste. We can also show the 4-tuple iconically as:

Using the 4-tuple we can usefully describe our on going experience. For

example, let me describe my experience right now as I am reading this web

page:

Ai = Auditory internal - I hear the tempo and tonal qualities of my

internal dialogue as I read the words to myself. (Auditory internally

generated)

Ve = Visual external - I see the typed words of the website, the

lighting pattern in the room (Visual externally generated)

Ke = Kinesthetic external - I fell the chair, and the temperature of the

room. (Kinesthetic externally generated)

O/Ge = Olfactory/Gustatory external - I can smell the flowers in the

room and the freshness of the air. (Olfactory/Gustatory externally

generated)

Here I just described my total conscious on-going experience using the

4-tuple. You can use the 4-tuple to describe any on-going experience. Try

describing your on-going experience now using the 4-tuple.

In the lesson 2 we will be exploring how we can take control our

subjective experience...