Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and science looks at the evidence for and against NLP being effective, and the basis for scepticism and concerns from within the scientific community. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a set of techniques or rituals and beliefs that adherents use primarily as an approach to psychotherapy, healing, communication and personal development. ...

It highlights the varying levels of evidence accessive, and the issues regarding "proving" a psychologically oriented subject "works", as well as other views relevant to the debate.

Due to its inherent preference for pragmatism over theory, its lack of formal and theoretical structure, its lack of control over careful work and pseudoscientific notions alike, leading to a tendency not to discard outdated notions of neurology and cognitive science, NLP has probably allowed itself to become less engaging to academic researchers. Actual clinical studies have been more productive, but many are merely suggestive or lack formal academic rigor. Equally (as researchers have pointed out), attempts have also been greatly obfusticated by many other factors, not least of which are unrealistic claims by some practitioners, poor scientific understanding of the subject being researched, failure to fully consider, control and understand all key variables, and often, lack of high quality experimental design. Look up pragmatism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on the context and their methodologies. ... Phrenology is regarded today as being a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. ... Rendering of human brain based on MRI data Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ... In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. ... For the medical term see rigor (medicine) Rigour (American English: rigor) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse. ... In computer science and mathematics, a variable (sometimes called a pronumeral) is a symbol denoting a quantity or symbolic representation. ... The first statistician to consider a methodology for the design of experiments was Sir Ronald A. Fisher. ...

The current state of the debate is probably best summed up by saying that there is significant evidence, both in research and anecdotally, that NLP does "something", which is more than a placebo, but that NLP has not yet been verified overall to rigorous scientific standards, and much of the evidence is still anecdotal. Finally, the psychological field as a whole is hard to test imperically, and so lack of scientific approval or mixed findings are not uncommon. A placebo, from the Latin for I will please, is a medical treatment (operation, therapy, chemical solution, pill, etc. ... Anecdotal evidence is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote, or hearsay. ... Psychology (Gk: psyche, soul or mind + logos, speech) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ...

Background to the subject

What is NLP

Main article: Principles of NLP

This article covers the core presuppositions and principles of Neuro-linguistic programming. ...

Comparison of NLP and science

It has proven difficult to provide a definitive account of the scientific method that can decisively serve to distinguish science from non-science. Thus there are legitimate arguments about exactly where the borders are. There is nonetheless a set of core precepts that have broad consensus. Science is reasoned-based analysis of sensation upon our awareness. As such, the scientific method focusses upon the realm of reality that is observable by existing or theoretical means, and its underlying goal or purpose is to produce useful models of reality. Science and NLP have in common the philosophical view that it is virtually impossible to make inferences from human senses which actually describe what is, but by forming and testing hypotheses based on observations that they make in the world, both seek to form useful generalizations about the subject concerned (known in science as theories), which can be tested and used, often predictively. Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for the investigation of phenomena and the acquisition of new knowledge of the natural world, as well as the correction and integration of previous knowledge, based on observable, empirical, measurable evidence, and subject to laws of reasoning. ... Reason is a term used in philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the faculty of the human mind that creates and operates with abstract concepts. ... In psychology, sensation is the first stage in the chain of biochemical and neurologic events that begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor cells of a sensory organ, which then leads to perception, the mental state that is reflected in statements like I see a uniformly blue... Reality in everyday usage means everything that exists. The term Reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, accessible or understandable by science, philosophy, theology or any other system of analysis. ... A hypothesis is a suggested explanation of a phenomenon or reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. ... Observation is an activity of an intelligent living being, to sense and assimiliate the knowledge of a phenomenon in its framework of previous knowledge and ideas. ... Theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on the context and their methodologies. ... In science and the philosophy of science, falsifiability, contingency, and defeasibility are roughly equivalent terms referring to the property of empirical statements that they must admit of logical counterexamples. ... A prediction or forecast is a statement or claim that a particular event will occur in the future. ...

Science and NLP diverge as to the focus with which they do this. In NLP, a "hypothesis" relates not to human processes in general, but to the inner processes of a given person, at the present moment, the relationship between the observable exterior and the unobservable interior, and the presence of other potential processes and inner structures which may be evidenced by deduction or suspected from prior experience. These then, form the hypotheses which NLP tests. The exploration (with the client or other party) of the unseen reality, is the purpose of NLP, and in a postmodern way, the subject-object or observer-observed barrier is removed in NLP, with the practitioner being an active participant. There is a strong sense that out of myriad "facts", some will be more pivotal than others, and that primary within NLP is the need to be aware not only of what facts are "useful", but the collaborative nature of the joint exploration and handling of rapport in the relationship, in order for beneficial discoveries to both arise and become usable in the process. The latter factors are not usually an issue within most natural sciences. Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... In philosophy, the subject-object problem arises out of the metaphysics of Hegel. ... Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human interaction. ... See: relational model personal relationship mathematical relationship, including: inverse relationship direct relationship relation (mathematics). ... The lunar farside as seen from Apollo 11 Natural science is the study of the physical, nonhuman aspects of the Earth and the universe around us. ...

The methodology of NLP has therefore been compared to an engineering discipline, in that it seeks what works, rather than what is 'theory' or 'true'. It is also comparable to heuristic problem-solving methods, in that the methods of NLP are tools for the uncovering of information and for the refinement of approaches, and the information uncovered is simultaneously information about the landscape, as well as refinements to the heuristic algorithm which can help better identify what a solution might look like, and to find optimal paths to any of the many possible solutions. Heuristic is the art and science of discovery and invention. ...

This contrasts strongly with many natural sciences, in which the observers' position outside the system is assumed, and hypotheses are created to test theories which refer to facts of nature, that are relatively static and testable. Accordingly (in common with many human-oriented fields) it is necessary to ask whether NLP is expected to act like a science, or can be expected to be validly evaluated as one, or whether it acts more like a black box in which the only effective measure is to statistically evaluate quality of output for a given input. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

NLP as a science

Main articles: Science, Scientific method

Many adherents argue that NLP is like a science in that NLP has a body of accepted knowledge and it has the ability to be scientifically tested. For mathematical sciences, see mathematics. ... Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for the investigation of phenomena and the acquisition of new knowledge of the natural world, as well as the correction and integration of previous knowledge, based on observable, empirical, measurable evidence, and subject to laws of reasoning. ...

However, a high degree of variability in each individual trial, the vagarities of human whim and craftsmanship, and the existence of multiple optimal solutions, are inherent in NLP's structure. So trial by means of too rigidly defined fixed process is unworkable, since the degree of rigidity could exclude that which is intended to be tested.

NLP's results cannot be found "true" or "untrue", since they are broadly at some level, metaphorical tools for manipulating neurological structures rather than natural entities. They will be found effective or non-effective instead, and this can be tested for. None the less, some direct testing is possible, insofar as some aspects of neurological processing can be monitored or tested clinically.

Issues arising in formal testing of psychological methods

Particular factors of difficulty in studying NLP

• Lack of well-definedness
• Strong basis in client feedback and individualized (and potentially multiple approaches
• Lack of paradigm belief in "works/doesn't work", or "solution A solves problem B"; rather, NLP believes in a willingness to explore problem spaces.
• Strong reliance upon metaphorical process: it is not clear what is intended to be taken literally, and what is merely a convenient metaphor to be interpreted by the brain.

Actual clinical studies have been more productive, but many are merely suggestive or lack formal academic rigor. Equally (as researchers have pointed out), attempts have also been greatly obfusticated by many other factors, not least of which are unrealistic claims by some practitioners, poor scientific understanding of the subject being researched, failure to fully consider, control and understand all key variables, and often, lack of high quality experimental design. Key issues expected or highlighted include: Comparative brain sizes In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the control center of the central nervous system. ... In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. ... For the medical term see rigor (medicine) Rigour (American English: rigor) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse. ... In computer science and mathematics, a variable (sometimes called a pronumeral) is a symbol denoting a quantity or symbolic representation. ... The first statistician to consider a methodology for the design of experiments was Sir Ronald A. Fisher. ...

1. NLP is intended to be used to a goal, and contains redundancy. That is, no single strategy or approach is expected to be 100% consistent (since people vary so much), but NLP's approach overall is believed to have a better chance of producing notably more valuable information, and better potentiate change, in a more systematic manner, and in a wider range of circumstances, than previous alternatives. Much of NLP is approach-guiding principles rather than beliefs. Metastudies highlight that it is often important to measure its in situ effectiveness rather than its assumptions, many of which are metaphorical.
2. People can misunderstand themselves, and therefore their goals are moving goals. NLP allows for this. The measure of "success" is very often subjective to the client, or may change during working, and this is an expected aspect of working with people.
3. NLP relies on micro-observation and virtuosity (i.e., smoothness of a wide range of skill use). It is important that skilled NLP practitioners are involved in planning, and (where appropriate) as elements within experimental design, to take account of this.
4. Not all NLP training is equal. It is important when studying "NLP" to study excellence in the field, rather than niche or exaggerating practitioners.

Redundancy, in general terms, refers to the quality or state of being redundant, that is: exceeding what is necessary or normal, containing an excess. ...

Known weaknesses or outdated material in NLP

How NLP practitioners test NLP in practice

Research findings

Scientific approaches to studying NLP

Comments and criticisms of research assumptions and methods

Published studies on NLP or its principles

Main article: List of studies on Neuro-linguistic programming#Published studies on NLP or its principles

It is important to recognize, that research -- both scientific and within NLP -- is susceptible to a variety of experimental errors. Readers should be aware of this if relying upon any given report, and confirm for themselves whether those concerned have taken adequate measures to control for known sources of error. . ... An error has different meanings in different domains. ...

Findings within neuroscience and cognitive science

Main article: List of studies on Neuro-linguistic programming#Findings within neuroscience and cognitive science

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User evaluation of NLP

A further source of views is anecdotal evidence. This is not the same as scientific evidence. If it is widely regarded, or comes from reputable stable bodies with a reputation for credibility, and especially if it appears they have tested it themselves and use it out of the benefits they have found, it can be suggestive that there are benefits to be realized. Scientists consider anecdotal evidence by its nature to be suggestive only - this is since anecdotal evidence is usually of variable quality, may be susceptible to placebo effects and other confounds, and not usually tested to formal scientific standards. Anecdotal evidence is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote, or hearsay. ... The placebo effect (Latin placebo, I shall please), first mentioned in 1955 by Henry K. Beecher, M.D. [1] and also known as non-specific effects and the subject-expectancy effect, is the phenomenon that a patients symptoms can be alleviated by an otherwise ineffective treatment, since the individual...

A large number of reputable bodies use NLP, including clinical, psychiatric, non-profit health, law enforcement, government, and education, giving rise to a significant number of sustained strongly positive reports. (See: List of users of Neuro-linguistic programming) To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

A number of reports suggest other users (also anecdotally) have encountered charlatans and low quality or charismatic trainers who place reliance upon emotional contagion rather than methodical formal practice. (See: History of NLP -- NLP buzz) Emotional contagion is the tendency for individuals to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by those of others. ...

Analysis of research

Summary of research

NLP as protoscience?

Protoscience is a term sometimes used to describe a hypothesis or model that has not yet been tested adequately by the scientific method, but which is otherwise consistent with existing science, or – where inconsistent – offers reasonable account of the inconsistency. It may also describe the transition from a non-rigorous body of practical knowledge into a scientific field. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

NLP as pseudoscience?

Quotes

See also

References