# Give me the scoop on neuro-linguistic programming
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 2, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272 "2011-03-02T22:49:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/1 "2011-03-02T22:49:18Z")
I’m interviewing someone tomorrow whose areas of expertise include this. (She’s also a spokesperson for for-profit schools. :rolleyes: )
Anyway, checked out [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming) on this – blah blah, blah blah blah. What’s the Cliff’s Notes version?
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### Author:  [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/2 "2011-03-03T02:45:35Z")
Only two cents here
I think most of the world views it as crap although Derren Brown makes it look cool… I used to be interested in it but I could never understand it enough to simplify it. The name is awesome though, it puts fear in the hearts of vulnerable people. (don’t go near him, he knows NLP etc…) Ask them about it once and then respond with, “I see…” then change the subject and stay away from it.
NLP = mind games? = persuasion?
I rather have hypnotism
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/3 "2011-03-03T02:55:29Z")
> [@Hennessy](#):
>
> Only two cents here
>
> I think most of the world views it as crap although Derren Brown makes it look cool… I used to be interested in it but I could never understand it enough to simplify it. The name is awesome though, it puts fear in the hearts of vulnerable people. (don’t go near him, he knows NLP etc…) Ask them about it once and then respond with, “I see…” then change the subject and stay away from it.
>
> NLP = mind games? = persuasion?
>
> I rather have hypnotism
My understanding was that Darren Brown denies similarities between what he does and NLP.
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### Author:  [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/4 "2011-03-03T03:15:12Z")
Well I guess NLP isn’t cool either. They were branding it with Derren’s videos. The wiki says something about having no scientific proof to whatever it claims to do…
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### Author:  [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/5 "2011-03-03T10:04:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#):
>
> My understanding was that Darren Brown denies similarities between what he does and NLP.
[This Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2272/does-nlp-work) addresses both the OP and the Derren Brown thing.
My copy of Derren’s ‘Tricks of the Mind’ in which there’s a chapter on NLP is back home on the other side of the world at the moment, so unfortunately I can’t check what was in it - but if you do have access to a copy then that’s definitely worth a skim through. From my vague recollections of it though it made it sound generally pretty shonky, but since they employ a wide range of techniques, a few of them weren’t too far removed from reality. I do remember it sounding very commercialized - a lot of expensive courses and certifications etc.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/6 "2011-03-03T11:39:43Z")
[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501118) is the follow up to the staff report. It covers more ground. I had a lot of fun reading about the issues and contributing.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/7 "2011-03-03T13:13:09Z")
Ah, great, didn’t even think to check the staff reports. (Appalling, I know.) I’ll read through that and the thread.
Thanks for the links!
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/8 "2011-03-03T13:20:51Z")
Have you read [The Skeptic’s Dictionary](http://www.skepdic.com/neurolin.html) entry?
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### Author:  [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/9 "2011-03-03T16:12:35Z")
maybe too late, but I would be interested in asking a True Believer if they had read \*Snow Crash \*and what they thought of it–\*Snow Crash \*being a gonzo science fiction novel featuring NLP.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/10 "2011-03-03T16:28:46Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#):
>
> maybe too late, but I would be interested in asking a True Believer if they had read \*Snow Crash \*and what they thought of it–\*Snow Crash \*being a gonzo science fiction novel featuring NLP.
I’m not a True Believer, but I was unable to make it very far through that book; it was too stupid for words. Maybe that’s one reason I’m not a TB.
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/11 "2011-03-03T18:21:41Z")
Derren Brown said that it was tosh.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/12 "2011-03-03T22:33:21Z")
Is this person into the “therapist” side or the “salesman” side? Some of the latter techniques are legitimate ones, and I would want to make sure I was on my toes when interviewing with someone who knows how to persuade people.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/13 "2011-03-03T23:19:35Z")
Saying Snow Crash features NLP is a bit like trying to say that an atomic bomb blast uses the same mechanism as a luminous watch dial. Snow crash also a specific assumption about the nature of the human brain for the purposes of the plot. As a plot device it was clever. But it wasn’t NLP. Even though Stephenson used the name. It was a plot device to make humans susceptible to computer viruses. Not pseudo-scientific pop psychology.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-the-scoop-on-neuro-linguistic-programming/573272/14 "2011-03-04T01:06:44Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Is this person into the “therapist” side or the “salesman” side? Some of the latter techniques are legitimate ones, and I would want to make sure I was on my toes when interviewing with someone who knows how to persuade people.
She works with a consulting firm that helps schools market themselves, basically. She was trying to sell me on the idea that community colleges and career schools are equivalent entities. I wasn’t buying it.