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NLP

TOTE Model

The TOTE model was developed in 1960 (published in Plans and the Structure of Behavior) by psychologists Eugene Galanter, Karl Pribham and George Armitage Miller (click to see other works of Miller) to describe and explain human behaviour, and takes further the S-R or Stimulus Response model, or the work of Pavlov which describes human behaviour in terms of conditioning, that is a stimulus generates a response.

Everything that we do or undertake will involve a TOTE or a strategy, we will have a way of doing something, be it combing our hair, pulling on a jumper, creating a painting, baking a chocolate cake, and the TOTE model has been adopted by NLP to describe how we do, how we achieve, what we do, or our strategy of doing an action.

The acronym of the model TOTE, stands for :-

                                                        T      test
                                                        O     operate
                                                        T      test
                                                        E      exit

and anything we do will involve a TOTE.

Consider that we wish to travel from London to Rome, we will have a Present Position (PP), i.e. London, and a Desired Position (DP), i.e. Rome.
                                                                PP
                                                                     DP

What we are aiming to do is to make our PP (present position), equal to our DP (desired position), instead of being in London we want to be in Rome.

So when we are standing in London,




    1. We apply the first T (test), and the question could be “are we there yet?“. 

    2. No we are not, so we have to do an O (operation), start walking, catch a plane.

    3. We then as we journey along apply another T (test) and ask the question “are we there yet?”.

    4. We continue looping around steps 2 and 3, the Operation and Test, until we reach Rome, then,

    5. We E exit.

The same model can be used for state, PS present state to DS desired state.

Maybe we are in an unhappy state and want to be in a happy state. So :- 




    1. We apply the first T (test), and the question could be “am I happy?“. 

    2. No we are not, so we have to do an O (operation), start watching a comedy film.

    3. As we watch we apply another T (test) and ask the question “am I happy?”.

    4. We continue looping around steps 2 and 3, the Operation and Test, until we are happy, then,

    5. We E exit.

Then the Present State/Position will equal the Desired State/Position.

If (E) the exit is not reached, or the Present State/Position does not equal the Desired State/Position, then there will be a problem, the action will never be able to stop with satisfaction, and this can develop into a compulsive behaviour disorder, like continually washing the hand after visiting the toilet, or returning home to check if the door is locked, or the light is turned off.

To solve a compulsive behaviour disorder the NLP Practitioner will need to find an (E) exit or trigger that will give the client a resolve or satisfaction, to stop the action.

Eliciting strategies will enable the discovery of what can be changed to get resolve or satisfaction.