Neurolinguistic calibration: a critical review from an evidence-based psychology perspective
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In Neuro-Linguistic Programming, calibration is presented as the ability to recognize internal states by observing verbal and nonverbal cues. This review critically examined its conceptual delimitation, operationalization, and empirical support from an evidence-based psychology perspective. A structured critical literature review was conducted using a documentary, analytical, and comparative approach. The search was carried out between December 2025 and February 2026 in Scopus, Web of Science, SciELO, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar, and was updated on July 20, 2026. The final corpus comprised 28 documents. The analysis showed that calibration combines different operations, including observing behavioral changes, assigning psychological meaning to them, and adjusting communication, without clearly distinguishing among these processes. No shared operational definition, specific instrument with sufficient psychometric support, or consistent criteria for assessing the accuracy of inferences were identified. Considerable overlap was also found with nonverbal communication, emotion recognition, empathic accuracy, and interpersonal perception. The review concludes that calibration may retain practical value as a way of attending to changes that occur during an interaction, but it does not yet meet the conceptual and methodological requirements needed to be regarded as an autonomous psychological construct.
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