Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking

5.3. Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)

Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world. It is very controversial in itself because the structure of NLP does not lend itself to precise, statistical formulas. Many scientists will argue or debate the principles of NLP due to this fact, but the structure does lead to models of how the principles work. From these models, techniques for quickly and effectively changing thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs that limit people have been developed.

As stated in Wikipedia (source: Oxford English Dictionary), neurolinguistic programming is "a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behavior and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them," and "a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behavior."

This book is far from a self-help book, so although the principles in it can assist in changing deep-seated thought patterns and habits in yourself, its focus is on how you can use NLP to understand and then manipulate those around you.

If you are unfamiliar with NLP your first instinct may be to run to a computer and type the term into Google. I want to ask you not to do that just yet. You will find that similar to social engineering, what you will often find first are many ...