Universal Quantifiers in NLP are words that are universal generalizations and have no referential index. Includes words such as “all”, “every”, and “never”.
These words are very useful in formal symbolic logic, but can often be misleading out of their mathematical context.
Here are some examples:
Everybody knows that relaxation is good for us.
Nobody wants to be in an argumentative relationship.
We all want to better ourselves as human beings.
Everyone in Cuba loves to dance.
All athletes are motivated.
All politicians have hidden agendas.
They never listen to me.
Now as you read them, you may already be aware that not ‘all’ athletes are motivated and some people actually stay in and like the drama of argumentative relationships. These statements can all be challenged. In NLP, the tool we use to challenge and dig down to the truth is NLP Meta Model.
Universal Quantifiers can be used within public speaking or motivational speaking, using language to ‘chunk up’ to shared principles that influence at a deeper level.
Many politicians use these language patterns to address a wider audience and bring people together to a conclusion they can all agree on at some level. For example:
We can all work together to create unity.
We are all together in our aspiration to build a better country.
Everybody wants strong leadership for the Country.
Find out more about language patterns in our section on the Milton Model.
