Talk:Neuro-linguistic programming/Reconstruction

message: 8 plausible intro sections identified from April - December 2005 and the current version. All quoted as in the original with the exception of (1) duplicated material, (2) obvious cleanup edits, (3) clear POV warfare edits.
===Existing plausible intros===
List of plausibly usable intros from the past 15 months. 
I've masked this behind "commented out" since it's long and makes the page (and decision making) tedious. None the less, as cites from past versions, it is valuable to include them, so that editors can see original examples of introduction sections in their context.
Uncomment to view originals.
===Summary of useful chunks from above===
Useful "chunks" from above (with some mild cleanup):
;What is NLP?
* Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a field of human endeavor concerned with empirically studying and modeling human performance and excellence, with the goal of creating transferable skill sets. 
* Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a field originated by Richard Bandler and John Grinder to describe the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro, including cognitive processing, neurology, and internal representation) and language (linguistic, both verbal and non-verbal) and how their interplay affects our body and behavior (programming, or structures of behavior). It is formally defined by NLP proponents as "the study of the structure of subjective experience", and is predicated upon the belief that all behaviors have an underlying structure and purpose (also known as an intention, or function) . 
* In this context, programming signifies the brian's processes of creating habitual patterns internally and in daily life, and is not a reference to cult programming. [personal addition, worth clarifying]
* Falls within the cognitive therapies ["Much of NLP operates on the cognitive level, i.e. by manipulating images, words, and feelings through an organized process"]  [personal addition, worth clarifying]
;What is it based on?
* It is based on the idea that the unconscious mind can be modelled as representing and processing information through the use of language, as well as through images, sounds, and other sensory input.
* NLP adheres to the notion that the things people are aware of internally and externally, can effectively be described in terms of the five senses .
* A fundamental notion is that human perception and thinking can be formally notated in terms of the five senses (Grinder & Bandler 1979; Dilts et al 1980; Bandler 1997). The basic tenets include the map-territory relation, the observation of non-verbal behavior such as the subtle movements of the eyes, or body postures, and use of  VAK language. 
* Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is based on the idea that you can find someone who excels at something, find out how they do it, and learn to do it yourself. [Comaze workshop version]
;Scope and "taster"
* The field has grown in many directions since its beginnings in modeling successful psychotherapists and has found applications in most areas involving human communications, such as education and learning, persuasion, negotiation, sales, leadership, team-building, etc., as well as decision-making, creative processes, health, medicine, and athletic performance.
* NLP has been used as the foundation of self-help, therapy, skills modeling, and new age spirituality training. Advocates state that NLP promotes the use of observation, body language and careful questioning to better understand how a person is doing what they do. NLP also claims to teach processes for influencing patterns of thought, state management, changing beliefs (O'Connor and McDermot, 1996), examining intentions and values, and changing habits.
* NLP techniques cover behaviour change, transforming beliefs, and treatment of traumas through techniques such as reframing (Andreas & Faulkner, 1994) and questioning methods such as the "meta-modeling" which can be used to explore personal limits of belief as expressed in language.
* Individuals considered to be highly successful in a field can be "modeled", or studied with the aim of separating out the various key factors which make them more capable than others. Proponents of NLP state that this allows the creation of techniques for changing habitual thoughts and behaviors so that others can also emulate effective skills. NLP is most often applied to self-help and therapy, but it has also been applied to a variety of contexts including business, law enforcement, politics, staff training and sports performance.
* Its goal is to identify what patterns of relationship between brains, language and bodies exceptional individuals have, to change habits and thinking patterns. Techniques are applied in various areas ranging from psychotherapy and personal development, sports and education to management training and relationships. [Comaze workshop version]
;Reception and criticisms
* While NLP has been applied to a number of fields such as sales, psychotherapy, communication, education, coaching, sport, business management, interpersonal relationships, seduction, and spirituality, it was metaphorically described by the original developers as "therapeutic magic" and 'the study of the structure of subjective experience"  and is predicated upon the assumption that behaviors have a practically determinable structure .
* NLP has a mixed and polarized reception. It is widely used and affirmed by credible bodies, but at the same time often considered critically by scientists. Studies by Heap (1988), Sharpley (1987), and Lilienfeld (2003), examining the principles and processes state that Neuro-linguistic programming is scientifically unsupported. Writings by Eisner (2000), Lilienfeld et al (2003), Helisch (2004), Williams (2000), and Drenth (2003) also state that the methodology is pseudoscience.  Writers such as Salerno (2005) have criticized the promotion within self-help, psychologists such as Singer (1999) and management experts such as Hardiman (1994) have criticized the principal beliefs within management and human resources.  Psychologists such as Eisner (2000) and Lilienfeld (2003) have raised concern over the promotion within psychological associations due to the open-ended nature of applicability and utility, and the unregulated dubious approaches of some practitioners.
* Scientific research on specific NLP processes has led to mixed results, with some studies concluding that NLP is scientifically unsupported (Heap 1988; Sharpley 1987; Lilienfeld et al, 2003), and others concluding more positively. This has led to NLP being classed as pseudoscience by (Eisner, 2000; Lilienfeld et al, 2003; Helisch 2004; Williams et al 2000; Drenth 2003) and a dubious therapy by the National Council Against Health Fraud (Loma 2001). Despite this it continues to receive strong support from a wide range of clinicians and other bodies, perhaps because, as Sharpley says (1987 p.105) "This does not necessarily reduce NLP to worthlessness for counseling practice. Rather, it puts NLP in the same category as psychoanalysis, that is, with principles not easily demonstrated in laboratory settings but, nevertheless, strongly supported by clinicians in the field."
* Due in part to its open-ended philosophy and encouragement of developing "whatever practitioners find works", NLP is considered controversial and criticized by some as pseudoscientific and for the manner of using exaggerated claims by some of its promoters. For the same reasons, there is often dispute amongst its developers and proponents as to what exactly is NLP and what is not. On the other hand many credible bodies and clinicians worldwide report both use and support of the field in its core areas.
* Sceptics consider that much of NLP (as with many modern talking therapies) is a subtle placebo, in that "If a person believes that a personal change is possible, then he will obtain it more easily than if he does not believe. So, the first step in a treatment, is usually to change the person's belief - i.e. to prepare a specially made placebo for him."  [personal addition, significant for explaining sceptics view]
* There are various criticisms of the discipline of NLP: Some of its techniques have had little direct support in psychological and experimental literature. There are no formally agreed-upon standards for practitioners. There is disagreement and wide variations among individual trainers and practiioners regarding definitions as to what NLP itself is, and what constitutes NLP.  There are as many ways of doing NLP as there are practitioners. NLP has no inherent moral or ethical framework, i.e. it is a set of techniques, whose use are left to the discretion of the practitioner. [Comaze workshop version]
===Merger into "best intro" ===
Taking from above to try and answer the following intro issues:
* What is NLP?
* Basis (including creation) and usage
* Current status, criticism and overall summary
Bear in mind, NLP is complex, the intro has to say what it is so a reader "gets the idea", not just a technical definition. FT2 (Talk) 12:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: [Hope you don't mind, I moved the raw material from your workshop version up to the other raw material, so that others could compare all versions in the same place, and edit with ease FT2 (Talk) 12:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem, that is exactly what I was attempting to do :) --Comaze 12:16, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I somehow feel strangely impelled to flame you with 17 sockpuppets for not replying with a personal attack! FT2 (Talk) 12:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Intro section

message: Taking from above to try and answer the following intro issues:
* What is NLP?
* Basis (including creation) and usage
* Current status, criticism and overall summary
Bear in mind, NLP is complex, the intro has to say what it is so a reader "gets the idea", not just a technical definition. FT2 (Talk) 12:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: [Hope you don't mind, I moved the raw material from your workshop version up to the other raw material, so that others could compare all versions in the same place, and edit with ease FT2 (Talk) 12:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem, that is exactly what I was attempting to do :) --Comaze 12:16, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I somehow feel strangely impelled to flame you with 17 sockpuppets for not replying with a personal attack! FT2 (Talk) 12:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Merger into "best intro" 

message: Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to learning, communication and change that practitioners apply to psychotherapy, business management, interpersonal relationships, and other contexts. The field of NLP was co-founded by then assistant professor of linguistics, Dr. John Grinder and Richard Bandler, who collaborated to imitate and then build an explicit models of exceptional psychotherapists, Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, and Milton H. Erickson. The field is based on the idea that you can find exceptional individuals, find out how they do what they do, and teach the patterns to others.
Other foundational influences included Korzybski, map-territory distinction and his methods for modeling humans language and behavior., NLP focused on exploring and challenging the limits to a person's beliefs as expressed in language, and developed techniques for behavior change, such as reframing beliefs, and reduction of simple phobias. 
 
<merge best overview of criticism>NLP is criticized for having no agreed upon code of ethics for trainers or practitioners, marketing of pseudoscientific or exaggerated claims, and for having little support in psychological and experimental literature. 
--Comaze 12:06, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: [Hope you don't mind, I moved the raw material from your workshop version up to the other raw material, so that others could compare all versions in the same place, and edit with ease FT2 (Talk) 12:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem, that is exactly what I was attempting to do :) --Comaze 12:16, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I somehow feel strangely impelled to flame you with 17 sockpuppets for not replying with a personal attack! FT2 (Talk) 12:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: First attempt at merge (Comaze)

message: *(only partially edited. Feel free to continue, change, and undo, of course. I've re-added the headings comaze - I think they're necessary or the text gets too unwieldy. I like the idea of making sure the points flow on to the next point though, rather than being a discreet list, and I've attempted to build on that. Greg 15:51, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This still needs alot of work. I've put the subheadlines back. Let's work on making it so that this section introduces the main themes, the major influences and presuppositions. --Comaze 12:37, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi Comaze. You say you've put the subheadlines back, but it looks like you've removed some headings...? Oh and my apologies for not getting you to stop editing, and then not getting through as much as I hoped - we had a busy night. Greg 12:48, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, I lost a few subheadlines.. I really want that first paragraph to work as one.. It can link to some sub-article... Do you think that it is possible? --Comaze 12:54, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Replacement of Fundaments section (working title, Principles)