Representational Systems (NLP) - The Preferred Representational System (PRS)

The Preferred Representational System (PRS)

Originally NLP taught that people preferred one representational system over another. People could be stuck by thinking about a problem in their "preferred representational system" (PRS). Some took this idea further and categorised people as auditory, kinesthetic, and visual thinkers (see also: learning styles). It was claimed that swifter and more effective results could be achieved by matching this preferred system. Although there is some research that supports the notion that eye movement can indicate visual and auditory (but not kinesthetic) components of thought in that moment, the existence of a preferred representational system ascertainable from external cues (an important part of original NLP theory) was discounted by research in the 1980s. Some still believe the PRS model to be important for enhancing rapport and influence. Others have de-emphasized its relevance and instead emphasize that people constantly use all representational systems. In particular, new code emphasizes individual calibration and sensory acuity, precluding such a rigidly specified model as the one described above. Responding directly to sensory experience requires an immediacy which respects the importance of context. John Grinder has stated that a representational system diagnosis lasts about 30 seconds.

In a review of research findings, Sharpley (1987) found little support for individuals to have a "preferred" representational system (PRS), whether in the choice of words or direction of eye movement, and the concept of a preferred representation system (PRS). Similarly, The National Research Committee found little support for the influence of PRS as presented in early descriptions of NLP, Frogs into Princes (1979) and Structure of Magic (1975). However, "at a meeting with Richard Bandler in Santa Cruz, California, on July 9, 1986, the influence subcommittee... was informed that PRS was no longer considered an important component of NLP. He said that NLP had been revised." (p. 140) The NLP developers, Robert Dilts et al. (1980) proposed that eye movement (and sometimes bodily gesture) correspond to accessing cues for representations systems, and connected it to specific sides in the brain.