NLP Eye Clues Debunked

NLP eye clues are at the heart of NLP’s attempts to pass itself off as science. In fact there have been many scientific studies into this area all of which have failed to produce any evidence to support NLP’s claims.

It sounds vaguely plausible at first as it is based on some basic body language that was already well established. When asked a question that you cannot immediately remember the answer to you will tend to look up, that is where your brain is and you are searching for the answer. When you are in an uncomfortable situation and are feeling shy or timid you will tend to look down. 

NLP’s founders took that basic knowledge and expanded it into nonsense by adding in personality types (auditory, visual and Kinaesthetic/Feeling). Again based part on fact to make it sound plausible but expanded to be simply fiction. Yes these types exist but eye movements have nothing to do with it.

The NLP Eye Clue Fiction in their words:

Eye movements

Each of the questions above causes you to access a memory or to mentally construct an experience. As you relax and run through the questions again. What do you notice, if anything, about the movement of your eyes?

Ask a friend the same questions, making sure that you are looking at his/her eyes as you are asking. What do you notice specifically about your friend's eye movements?

The effect that you might be noticing is referred to in neurological literature as 'lateral eye-movement'. NLP uses the phenomenon to help recognise patterns of thinking and primary processing systems (whether people use vision, sound or kinesthetic to trigger their thinking - Rep systems).

This information can be useful in gaining rapport and achieving more effective communication The diagram shows the usual meanings attached to lateral eye movements.

Up and to the left usually means that a person is remembering something visually - get the picture?

Up and to the right usually means that a person is imagining (constructing) something visually. Can you just imagine that!

Left side (horizontal) usually means a remembered sound - does that ring a bell?

Right side (horizontal) usually means an imagined (constructed) sound (I imagine that message should start become loud and clear to you now).

Down right (which is down right obvious!) usually means that a person is accessing a bodily feeling or emotion - are you getting to grips with this idea now?

Down left usually means that a person is accessing internal dialogue. This is often a repeated phrase such as "I should know better!" , "Yes! Done it again", "Told you so", etc., that comes up time-and-time again in; typically at times of stress or elation.

As mentioned above, although the patterns above are those most commonly found, there are exceptions. Some people have the patterns reversed (typical in, but not exclusive to, many left-handed people), others have a 'mixture'. There are also some cultures where this pattern is not the norm. Bearing in mind the NLP presupposition that 'Everyone lives in their own unique model of the world', you might encounter different patterns. 

You have to love the way they just throw in it might all be backwards or just not work, a standard procedure in NLP to deflect any criticism when its’ ineffectiveness is pointed out.

Learning to read eye-accessing cues will not make you a mind reader but will give you a clue to the way the other person is thinking. A skilled NLP practitioner will notice the sequencing of eye patterns. For example, before answering a question someone might always follow the pattern 'up left, across right, down right'. This suggests that they are remembering a picture, putting together some sound or words, and checking that the idea feels OK. By communicating ideas in the same sequence you will probably gain strong rapport with this person. 

This last part points to mimicry and rapport. I’ll debunk those in my next post but in essence they are what makes an NLPer seem so creepy.

Many NLP texts and training courses used to include a section on lie detection based on eye clues as well. After Professor Richard Wiseman of the School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire published his research paper in 2012 they have hastily removed this and now call it a myth.