What is NLP?

[Thorin]

I'm reading up on NLP this week, it makes me realize how little most people know about how their own minds work, how their thoughts and feelings and actions come about and how/why they can (or can't) change them at will.

I don't want to hijack the Engagement Announcement thread, but I am wondering what NLP is.  So I started a new topic.  Darren?  Can you provide a little more detail?

[Shayne]

Natural Language Processing.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language_processing

[Thorin]

Thanks Shayne.  That article made one of my coworkers pop up and say "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana" (originally a Groucho Marx quote).

Darren, is Natural Language Processing what you were talking about?  If so, what set of tools are you talking about?

I'm reading up on NLP this week, it makes me realize how little most people know about how their own minds work, how their thoughts and feelings and actions come about and how/why they can (or can't) change them at will.

If I had taken on this set of tools of personal awareness and communication etc. in my high school years, my college+ years would have been *very* different.

(emphasis mine)

[Shayne]

I could be wrong, but Natural Language Processing is the only abrev. for NLP that i know.  It has limitless potential for searching just so hard to do, consider a DMV and the clerk needing crash history for a particular vehicle.  She could type something like ... "Crash history for a 1994 Dodge RAM with the VIN 2131SWJK23232" and it would come up with all the information.  I see it being of particular interest in medical history.

[Thorin]

NLP as you intend, Shayne, would be able to come up with the same information if that same clerk typed in "please tell me how many crashes this Dodge Ram has been in.  It's VIN 2131SWJK23232, and it's from 1994."  Otherwise, it's still working on the keyword-search algorithm we use today.

[Shayne]

you can add all the extra words you want to the sentence but they are the same.  typical systems we have now are much less sophisticated.  You pick from a dropdown what type of search "damage" another dropdown for "vehicle type", etc till you get what you need and search.

I find when using any modern search engines my above:

"Crash history for a 1994 Dodge Ram with the VIN 2131SWJK23232"

Turns into:

"crash history 1994 Dodge Ram 2131SWJK23232"

...removing any little word that doesn't help me get closer.  the worst part about keyword searching is that the order of the keywords appears to have an effect.  In google if you type in "fluid css tabs" and "css tabs fluid" you get 2 different results listings with different total results.

[Darren Dirt]

I'm reading up on NLP this week, it makes me realize how little most people know about how their own minds work, how their thoughts and feelings and actions come about and how/why they can (or can't) change them at will.

I don't want to hijack the Engagement Announcement thread, but I am wondering what NLP is.  So I started a new topic.  Darren?  Can you provide a little more detail?

I'm reading up on NLP this week, it makes me realize how little most people know about how their own minds work, how their thoughts and feelings and actions come about and how/why they can (or can't) change them at will.

If I had taken on this set of tools of personal awareness and communication etc. in my high school years, my college+ years would have been *very* different.

(emphasis mine)

Gah! Sorry for the confusion, folks...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

NLP = Neuro-linguistic programming, a method, or set of techniques for affecting change by communication.

NLP is an alternative to psychotherapy and a "model of interpersonal communications" based on the subjective study of language, communication and change. It was co-founded by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the 1970s as a method of personal development. They developed a set of practices and techniques based on modeling successful psychotherapists of the time. However, its application was not limited to psychotherapy, rather they attended to the patterns of interpersonal communications that could be applied generally. Its theoretical foundations borrowed from a range of disciplines, including various psychological fields, linguistics, cognitive science, and occupational therapy.

I've heard an awful lot about NLP over the last decade or so, but only in the last 6 months have I decided to look deeper into the techniques and understand what the reason is for all the positive comments from seemingly anyone who has researched or self-studied or taken seminars etc. And watching the vast collection of Derren Brown videos on Youtube, a large part of what he does and how he does -- in terms of "hypnotising" or "persuading/deceiving" people -- is based on, or similar to, well-known NLP techniques and concepts.


A good "starter" resource I had heard recommended was the mid-1990s book "NLP: The New Technology of Achievement" -- and I highly agree with the praise now that I've read the first handful of chapters ; it starts off very simply with some foundational observations about human interaction and communication, then covers the history of NLP development, then goes into the various subjects focusing primarily on self-awareness and self-improvement (although the last few decades have shown how many corporations, marketing gurus, and media pundits intentionally or unwittingly use the concepts to persuade or manipulate the opinions and desires and even emotional states of consumer or the voting public etc. hence the reason why I finally decided to do my own hardcore research into it just recently).

You can also find lots of online resource for free, I am sure, that can at least give a general overview or give examples of some NLP techniques.

[Shayne]

haha.  Right at the top of the wiki entry is...

There is also a disambiguation page for other uses of the NLP acronym including Natural Language Processing.

...i wasn't aware of another thing using the same acronym.  Whoops!