Reverse Meta Model: Selection Restrictions

Reminder: The meta model is a way of questioning a speaker about their communications to us to retrieve more specific information. People will always be distorting information, deleting information or generalizing about it. The Meta Model helps us to clear that up.

In Ericksonian Hypnotic Language patterns, sometimes we do that distorting, deleting or generalizing on purpose in order to be more hypnotically communicative. When we do that we are purposely “reversing the meta model.” Presuppositions are a big part of that.

Another Presupposition category is the Selection Restriction. In these sentences what is being presupposed is the restricted group that you can select from. In the following sentence, the selected group is females.

If my professor gets pregnant, I’ll be disappointed.

You’d assume that I’m presuming that my professor can not be a male. You’d be right.

The kicker split the uprights in the final seconds to win the game.

The athlete was not a baseball player. (or soccer either)