Most of us should know by now that as human beings we do not react to the world itself but to our own individual created representations of the world. In other words, as is commonly said in NLP, “The map is not the territory”. We create this representation of the world by our reactions to the signals or stimuli picked up by our five senses. Seemingly innately, each of us has a tendency to respond more easily to, and process more intimately, stimulus given to us by some senses rather than others. In doing so each of us develops what is called a “primary representational system”.
For example, some people (like myself) are more visually orientated. This means they process their world in pictures and ‘visions’. Their most developed sense is their sight and their ‘mind’s eye’ and so they will try to convert stimulus received through other senses into their visual sense for greater understanding and enhanced perception of that stimulus. At the same time other people’s primary representational system is a kinesthetic one, meaning they are more sensitive to the touch and feel of things and would prefer to receive information already converted to that sense. They are for example, the sporty types who are coordinated and very much in touch with their physical bodies.
These primary representational systems (PRS) affects many areas of our lives and our understanding of it indeed holds the key to controlling our minds more effectively for greater success and happiness. This article will through in depth explanation, provide you with a means of determining your own primary representational system and eventually become skilled at picking the PRS of other people.
Firstly let it be known that really, each of us makes use of all of the representational systems but it’s only one that we favor. I feel for example that I have quite a strong auditory and kinesthetic sense but I know my primary system is visual. Anyhow, let’s take it from the top.
Visual Representational System
Each representational system can usually be characterized by a few key elements of a person, namely the sound of their voice, their habitual vocabulary, and their posture and movement.
Visual people talk quickly because they process everything in pictures. It is said that a picture paints a thousand words, so the visual person will generally use a lot of words in quick succession to convey what it is he’s ‘seeing’ in the pictures of his mind. A visual person’s voice will also generally be of a higher pitch (you don’t usually hear a person with a deep voice speaking slowly).
Visual people will use certain words in their day to day conversation that will betray their visual tendencies.
“Do you SEE what I mean?”
“Can’t you just PICTURE how great this will LOOK”?
While these are dead give aways you will also notice them being more sensitive to the visual aspects of something, describing its color, height, appearance, brightness, etc.
A visual person will usually stand up straight and tall.
Kinesthetic Representational System
Kinesthetic people will talk much more slowly. Sounds and pictures don’t mean as much to them and they rely on touch and feel to perceive their world. This means they need less words to get across their meaning as they are more adept to notice the ‘FEEL’ of what someone is saying more than anything else. A Kinesthetic voice will also be deeper in tone for the same reason as above.
You will notice a kinesthetic person when you hear things like:
“I can’t quite GRASP what you’re saying”
“Let’s LAY IT ALL OUT on the table so we can get a FEEL for what’s happening here”
“It’s so close I can reach out and TOUCH it”
Etc… A kinesthetic person will be moved by how things feel to them. In relationships they will generally affectionate and playful and they will learn better by using their bodies and DOING the things rather than passively assimilating the information.
Auditory Representational System
Auditory people will speak in a very rhythmic, almost melodious tone as they are very sensitive to how things sound and can pick up inconsistencies in their own audible output just as they can with anyone else’s. Their voices will usually be deeper too as sounds don’t represent as many words as pictures do.
You will always know when you hear an auditory person:
“Sounds good to me!”
“If I’m hearing this right, what you mean is
An auditory person will need to be ‘told’ when they are doing things right or wrong. They will be very sensitive to how things are said to them, the tone of voice, the volume, the pitch, the rhythm and more. They can generally listen well and derive meaning easily from conversations.
When This is Helpful
There are a few main areas where knowledge of yours and other people’s representational systems are valuable. We will only allude to them in this article but more information can be found on other areas of this site.
The first area of application is communication. Through understanding someone’s representational system you can more effectively build rapport with them by ‘talking their language’, communicating through the model that they best understand. This of course leads to more effective communication.
The second area is productivity. Through knowing your own PRS you can organize things in your life to fit that system. For example if you know you are a visual person, you can study more effectively by drawing a lot of diagrams and making visual internal representations of your material to boost comprehension and retention. If you are a kinesthetic person you can get more and higher quality work done by getting in ‘touch’ with your work, taking a more active role.
The third area is in visualization and mind based NLP activities. Knowing your own primary representational system will allow you to create more vivid mental imagery, and have greater ability to change meanings of events from the past or gain clarity on desired outcomes of the future.
Knowledge of representational systems are essential for effective communication both internal and external and knowing your own system intimately is the first step to their mastery.
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