Anti-Human Exploitation Guidelines: NLP Speech Strategies for Mind Manipulation

 

NLP (neuro–linguistic programming) is an unrecognized field in practical psychology. Its effectiveness has not been proven by science, but the crowds at Tony Robbins' performances hint that there is something in it. NLP consists of a set of strategies for changing a person's psyche. They are compiled from linguistic and psychological techniques, so it is not surprising that many of them work. In this article, I will tell you how to use speech strategies and share my opinion on their effectiveness. It is suitable for those who want to recognize manipulations in negotiations or in sales speeches.

Adjustment before applying speech strategies, the purpose of adjustment is to increase the degree of unconscious (intuitive) trust between the manipulator and the interlocutor. This is achieved by copying the opponent at the moment of the conversation. I assume that the technique is based on an evolutionary legacy: ancient people lived in small groups, so they instantly divided sapiens into "friends" and "strangers." The same logic applies here – the more similarity there is between the interlocutors, the easier it is for the brain to classify the manipulator as "one of its own".

There are four types of adjustments:

- for the body: gestures, facial expressions, posture, movements;

- for the voice: volume, manner of speech, intonation;

- for rhythm: breathing, blinking;

- for speech: characteristic expressions, stylistics.

I went through the adjustment exercises in acting classes and I want to point out that you can't jump into someone else's "skin" from a run. Even after several weeks of practice, the adjustment looked fake and noticeable. To tune in to your opponent, close your eyes and create an image of him in your head.

Compare with the original until you find the perfect ratio. When adjusting, observe the cultural and corporate characteristics of the environment. You don't have to put your feet up on the desk to copy your boss. If you are a female accountant in a logistics company, squatting down next to the drivers is also not a good idea. Start conducting the conversation. Change your hand movements, reduce the conversation vector, and reduce the volume of your voice. If you do everything right, your partner will repeat after you. Otherwise, adjust the image in your head again. When you achieve maximum similarity in behavior, start using speech strategies. At the end of the conversation, eliminate the connecting features and the conversation will fall apart. NLP plays out very coolly in the series "The Mentalist". Turn on any episode of any season to enjoy the charm and magnificent manipulative abilities of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker).

Speech strategies Journalists used speech strategies long before NLP became a separate field.

Nevertheless, they are good at live communication and work together with the adjustment. Truisms are platitudes that do not cause a desire to argue. They migrated to NLP from philosophy, their effectiveness has not been proven. A person with critical thinking can easily challenge any truism. I'm sure you'll do this with almost every statement below: good things can't be cheap; there are things you can't buy; everyone has the right to make mistakes; not all yogurts are equally healthy; tastes are not disputed. In sales, scripts are built on truisms to work out objections. To the phrase "These are too expensive shoes", you can answer "A miser pays twice" and sow doubt inside the client. Truisms are rarely used to identify the needs of a live conversation: platitudes standardize the client in his eyes, discourage the desire to continue the conversation. But in advertising posters, the truism works well: it allows a person to feel like a part of society and gives positive emotions. No correct experiments have been conducted on this topic, and successful experiences have local subjective successes.

Blurting out. The strategy includes several techniques to create smoothness and expressiveness of speech, an illusory connection between sentences. For example, the use of conjunctions "and" and "but". Compare the sentences: Your hair is beautiful, but short. Your hair is beautiful and short. The first sentence has a negative connotation, the second one balances the statements and is positive. The substitution of conjunctions changes the mood of the interlocutor and has a positive effect on him. Of course, there are no supporting facts for this. But it does sound better.

The second technique is to use the conjunction "and" to connect speech. When I started learning English, I recorded myself on a dictaphone. I listened and was horrified by the pauses, the illogicality of the presentation. To refine my self-image, I used a bunch of and ("and") between sentences. So a set of disparate phrases turned into an auditable monologue. It's the same in Russian. Enter the conjunction "and" and the speech will sparkle with new colors: "And the night is so beautiful. And the stars in the sky are burning. And time flows endlessly."

The following technique is good for written text. Its meaning is to indicate a causal relationship between the statements: the less we love a woman, the more she likes us; the more you want to develop, the more you think about buying a new course; after you buy noodles, you can buy discounted rolls; I will not fly to Mars because I do not have so much money. The basic rule of blabbing came from Ericksonian hypnosis – talking a lot, jumping from question to question, actively sprinkling speech with prepositions and conjunctions.

Finish the match. According to the NLP legend, a person simply cannot refuse you. It is difficult for me to assess the effectiveness of this method, as I always listen carefully to people and notice outright nonsense.

Presuppositions are speech tricks in which the suggested fact is spoken of as a matter of course.

Reframing (reformulating a position) The purpose of this speech strategy is to turn the situation around and force a person to look at the problem differently. The simplest type of reframing is one–word reframing. It is suitable for refuting restrictive statements, mitigating criticism and comments. Replace the objectionable word with a synonym with the desired emotional connotation. And now the former comrade is no longer stupid, but naive; the aunt from the accounting department is not persistent, but demanding.

I have a negative attitude towards the substitution of concepts: it does not reflect the situation and does not help in its resolution. If a child consciously howls at the entire plane, it is unlikely that the mood of passengers will improve if the mother calls him "energetic" rather than spoiled and moody. Another type of reframing is grouping. It is divided into "union" and "division". In the first case, the problem is globalized to the level of the crowd ("I'm not the only one who got a B in math, but the whole class"), in the second case, it is divided into details ("What exactly is your misfortune? Not money, a dog, or a house?"). In the "Lateral Shift", analogies should be used to re-evaluate the situation. Take a negative problem and find an analogy that has a new or expanded meaning.

You can read more about reiframing techniques in the book NLP-2: The Next Generation by Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier.

Why the described techniques won't work for you NLP is a set of techniques that will work under certain circumstances, efforts, and personal qualities. For them to work, you need to learn how to think systematically and understand why and at what point a particular technique can be used. Thoughtless reframing or plotting will not work if there is no understanding of basic psychology. Use techniques in a meaningful way. Many NLP techniques came out of Ericksonian hypnosis. It is naive to believe that a person in their right mind will instantly rebuild on reframing. You either have to work with him for a long time or put him in a trance.

You may have noticed that my attitude towards NLP is rather negative. I believe that Russia has a low culture of using psychological techniques. They are used for manipulation in non-ecological businesses, sects and pyramids, at self-development and pickup trainings. Many have their money taken away, and some have their lives ruined. Therefore, the purpose of the article is not to teach you manipulation, but to protect you from it – forewarned means armed. For NLP supporters, I repeat: I do not deny that the techniques work in the hands of psychologists or skilled speakers. But in the hands of amateurs, they turn into a hellish machine. Instead of concluding, NLP Adherents argue that using the particle "not" in conversation does not carry a negative connotation. I totally agree with them!