Reading the Eyes for Personal Insights
Part of the NLP Workbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet (UK Edition)
Eye movements can give subtle clues about what someone is thinking, feeling, or remembering. Everyone moves their eyes according to which internal mental system they’re using – recognising someone’s eye movement lets you know whether they are thinking in terms of images, sounds, or feelings and movement.
The table and image are based on looking at and assessing how someone’s eyes move in response to a question. In this instance we’ve taken what you would generally see for a right-handed person, if the person is left-handed these signals may be reversed.
| When someone is doing this | The eyes are doing this |
|---|---|
| Remembering a picture (Vr) | Move to the top left |
| Creating a picture (Vc) | Move to the top right |
| Remembering a sound or conversation (Ar) | Move horizontally to their left |
| Imagining what a sound will sound like (Ac) | Move horizontally to their right |
| Having a conversation with themselves (Ad) | Drop down and to their left |
| Accessing emotions (K) | Drop down and to their right |
(N.B. Kinaesthetic means both movement and emotional experiences.)
