NLP Perceptual Positions

Introduction

Human beings look at any experience using three primary ways. By understanding these ways of our behavior, we can learn how to control our state of mind and enhance our communication. In Neuro-linguistic Programming these ways are referred to as the first, second and third perceptual positions. However, two more perceptual positions known as fourth and fifth perceptual position can also be identified.

The first Neuro-linguistic perceptual position is a total self-reference, and operates from the self or from ones own eyes. The association is from ones own body and you are living in the first position. In this position, you are looking at the world and at any experience from your personal point of view. In the first perceptual position, no other person’s point of view or position is taken into account. You merely translate the experience or communication to your needs or opinion. This can be done by undergoing Neuro-linguistic training.

The second Neuro-linguistic perceptual position is all about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Here you consider how someone else will interpret a communication or an experience. It forms a total other’s reference, and operates from the eyes of another person. You consider the look, sound and feel of an experience for somebody else, as you are experiencing the event from his or her eyes. You also look at yourself from another person’s eyes.

This perceptual position enhances your ability to empathize. It gives you the ability to see another person’s logic especially when you are in an argument. With the added flexibility, you can resolve conflicts much better and appreciate the feelings of the other person. You can also get some insight into your behavioral characteristics, and what someone else thinks about you. You can go to the second perceptual position after building an initial rapport, and then watch how it deepens with this position. The second perceptual position is an important model for strengthening rapport. It can be achieved using Neuro-linguistic training.

The third Neuro-linguistic perceptual position is a complete dissociation from the entire conversation or experience. You are an external viewer, and assume any other position with total detachment from the event. You become an independent observer and this helps to form an objective view on the event. Here you are looking at the conversation or event as if it is not at all related to you. You operate as an uninvolved bystander. Here you should imagine yourself to be out from your body or that of the other person involved and stand on the side looking at yourself and the second person involved. You have just entered the conversation and do not carry any preconceived opinions.

The Fourth Neuro-linguistic Perceptual Position

The fourth Neuro-linguistic perceptual position is a recent addition to Neuro-linguistic Programming literature and is specified by Dilts in 1997 in his Leadership skills manual. The fourth perceptual position is the viewpoint from the perspective of the system as a whole. The fourth perceptual position is defined as a “We” by associating yourself with the whole system. In order to take the fourth perceptual position, step aside and take on the perspective of the whole arrangement by considering the best interest of the unit as a single entity. Here your aim is to contribute to this single unit, by considering “our” common goals. This can be achieved using Neuro-linguistic training.

The fifth Neuro-linguistic perceptual position was developed by Atkinson in 1997, in his unpublished manuscript named Five Central Ideas. He suggests that the fifth perceptual position is the universal perceptual position. Here you need to take multiple perceptual positions and switch rapidly between each perceptual position. The universal quantifiers applicable are “all” and “always”. This is the largest and widest perspective of all perceptual positions. By assuming this particular Meta position, you can take any perceptual position and then change between them. This helps to increase the flexibility of your consciousness, because you do not stay in any one position for a long time.

You can learn to switch between each position and view the progress of things over time using Neuro-linguistic training. Every Neuro-linguistic Programming perceptual position is equally important, and it is vital to keep moving at ones own will between each perceptual position. Staying at any one position for a longer time can have disastrous results.