FRAMEWORKS
NLP models.
A "model" in NLP is a generalised framework that organises how a practitioner thinks about a situation. NLP has eight core models. Techniques are what you do; models are how you decide what to do.
Each model below is a short summary — click through for the full guide and worked examples.
LANGUAGE
Meta model
Precision questioning that recovers deleted, distorted, and generalised information in client language.
Bandler & Grinder, 1975 (The Structure of Magic)
LANGUAGE
Milton model
Artfully vague hypnotic language that bypasses conscious resistance and engages the unconscious.
Bandler & Grinder, 1975 (Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson)
CHANGE FRAMEWORK
Neurological levels
Six levels of change — environment, behavior, capability, belief, identity, spiritual — for diagnosing where intervention is needed.
Robert Dilts, late 1980s
SENSORY MODEL
VAK / representational systems
Three primary sensory channels (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) for thinking and communication.
Bandler & Grinder, mid-1970s
COGNITIVE MODEL
Communication model
How external events are filtered through deletion, distortion, and generalisation into internal representations and then into response.
Early NLP (1970s)
GOAL-SETTING
Well-formed outcome
Five criteria (positive, sensory-specific, self-initiated, ecological, evidence-procedure) that turn a vague goal into an actionable target.
Early NLP (1970s)
COMMUNICATION STANCE
Satir categories
Five communication stances — placater, blamer, computer, distracter, leveler — under stress.
Virginia Satir; adopted into NLP curricula
PERSPECTIVE MODEL
Perceptual positions
Three positions (self, other, observer) for examining a situation from different perspectives.
Judith DeLozier & John Grinder, 1980s
Model vs. technique
A model is a way of organising perception. The meta model is a model — it gives you a frame for noticing what's missing from a sentence. The Milton model is a model — it gives you a frame for noticing how language pre-supposes a desired response.
A technique is a specific procedure. The swish pattern is a technique. The fast phobia cure is a technique. Anchoring is a technique. Techniques are applications of one or more models.
For the technique list, see NLP techniques. For the founders behind each model, see the figures directory.