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19th October, 2008
NLP is often criticised for lacking scientific credentials. However there are studies in experimental psychology that validate the assumptions of NLP.
One important assumption of NLP is that apparently metaphorical descriptions of our states can be more usefully interpreted as literal descriptions. i.e. when someone says something like “the world seems grey” or “I have a very clear idea” they are in fact referring to features of their own internal representations.
A psychology study at the University of Toronto provides experimental evidence to back up this idea. They wanted to test the common metaphor of coldness associated with social exclusion, as in being “frozen out”, an “icy stare” or being given “the cold shoulder”.
In one experiment a group of 65 subjects were asked to recall either a socially excluding memory or a socially inclusive one. Immediately afterwards they were asked to estimate the air temperature in the room. Those who had recalled the socially excluding experience on average estimated the temperature to be 3C lower than those who had recalled an inclusive experience. They literally felt colder.
In a second experiment subjects participated in a simple game of throwing and catching a ball. Half of the group were thrown the ball multiple times whilst half of the group were only thrown it twice and then ignored for the rest of the session. They were then asked to take part in a food marketing survey. They were asked to rate their preference for different kinds of hot and cold food.
Those who were excluded during the ball game showed a marked preference for hot foods over those who had participated fully.
This second experiment is, I think, less impressive as the ball throwers could be expected to have a higher body temperature due to the exercise involved.
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