Frames and Relationships in NLP

In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), there is a concept called a “frame.” With its help, we can shape the desired attitude toward any information. It’s an indispensable technique in PR, advertising, sales, and really any situation where you want to persuade people.

A frame is a context or background in which information is perceived. A frame is additional information given alongside or before the main information, setting logical or emotional boundaries for how it’s received, in order to form a certain attitude.

Visual Frames: Simple Examples

The simplest example is a visual frame. Imagine a photo of a person you don’t know. Now, let’s put it in a pink, heart-shaped frame. Even if you’re seeing this photo for the first time, what might you think about this person? Now imagine the same photo on a “wall of honor”… or in a “wanted by the police” section… 🙂 Or in a huge, ornate frame, three feet wide, hanging in the middle of a grand hall. How do you start to perceive this person now?

Depending on what we do with the frame, we make people see the photo in a certain light and relate to it accordingly. These are deliberately literal examples, meant to illustrate the idea of frames. In real life, of course, things are more subtle. For example…

Frames in Real Life: Political Campaigns

Imagine an election campaign headquarters. Political strategists are working to promote their candidate as a “man of the people.” They prepare to publish photos in the media: one where the candidate is talking with happy, smiling students; another with well-dressed seniors showing respect in their eyes; a third with a beautiful city in the background, clean streets, attractive women, and expensive cars under a bright blue sky. Five or ten different photos of the same person, all sharing something in common—something hard to pinpoint, but pleasing to the eye and heart.

This is how visual frames are created to form the desired attitude toward a subject on a subconscious level. But things get even more interesting when we look at verbal (spoken or written) frames…

Verbal Frames: The Power of Context

Imagine a promotional article that starts like this: “Company X makes the warmest jackets! Their cold resistance is ensured by…” (and so on). How interested are you in this article if you live in a mild climate? Maybe “so-so.” Now, let’s add one sentence at the beginning: “This year, meteorologists are predicting an especially cold winter. Company X makes the warmest jackets! Their cold resistance is ensured by…” How about now? The topic suddenly feels relevant, and all we did was add a context frame—“an especially cold winter”—which instantly puts the reader in a situation where this information matters.

How to Use Frames

Now you know what frames are and how they work, which means you can at least start to notice them. Creating frames and replacing one frame with another (the technique of verbal reframing) is a bit more complex, but it’s something you can learn. The highest level of skill in using frames is called “belief change” techniques—powerful verbal reframing methods that can actually change someone’s beliefs. Mastering belief change, so you can use it naturally in conversation without your conversation partner even noticing, can have a profound impact on their beliefs and worldview. In NLP, this is considered a master-level skill, and it’s impossible to achieve without first mastering basic communication techniques. But it’s not as hard as it seems…