NLP Debunked by TYT Science

Some more debunking.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-18812072
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0040259

http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html

NLP Why?

NLP Cannot Handle The Truth

NLP Communication Techniques Debunked

If you have ever had the misfortune to be in a situation where communication with an NLPer is necessary you will have found that it is an impossible process. The NLPer believes that they know everything and that communication is a one-way process. They talk a lot but never listen. Whereas a normal person participates in a conversation NLP teaches that they should control a conversation and it only exists to serve their needs not the others persons. This is the way a sociopath thinks.

Here is a section from an NLP training manual explaining a couple of techniques they use. (typos, spelling and grammatical errors from the original).

Silence Imposition Technique

If you want someone to stop talking, short of asking them to be quiet, there are at least two effective nlp methods of winding down their continuos urge to speak.

You can remain perfectly silent, or you can disagree. Either of these will usually prompt the other to seek companionship elsewhere.

1. The No-Feedback NLP Technique

NLP Rapport Debunked

rapport

noun [S or U] /ræˈpɔːr/ /-ˈpɔːr/

Definition› a good understanding of someone and an ability to communicate well with them:

In all aspects of NLP training they constantly bang on about the importance of establishing good rapport. This can be in any context, NLP quack therapy, getting on in their career, getting into someone's pants or any other situation in life.

It is just common sense, of course it is important to have rapport. That isn’t the problem here, with NLP the problem is the methods they teach to achieve rapport and the motivation for doing so.

NLP teaches that someone will have better rapport with someone else who is similar to them. While this is true it then goes on to teach that they should pretend to be like the person they are attempting to build rapport with. This is simple mimicry and of course just makes the NLPer seem false and often creepy.

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:

NLP Techniques - NLP’s Embedded Commands Debunked

Many of the techniques taught as NLP are simply a guide to being obnoxious and antisocial. The use of NLP Embedded Commands is one such technique. Trying to manipulate someone to do something via trickery rather than directly asking them is a nasty thing to do.

The following is from an NLP instruction book. (Typo’s left in).

NLP Practitioner Training Debunked

What value is there in holding an NLP Practitioner certificate? There is no overall governing body to supervise the quality of any certification awarded. NLP is a fake pseudo-science so it is impossible to oversee. In 2009, a British television presenter was able to register his pet cat as a member of the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP), which subsequently claimed that it existed only to provide benefits to its members and not to certify credentials.

Yet many people and even companies spend thousands to attend NLP Practitioner training schools and then proudly display this on their CV as if it is real.

The article “NLP is Dead” in Trainingzone describes the state of the NLP training market.