Brief Overview.

 When you imagine an intelligent person, who do you picture? If you are like most of us, you might imagine a brilliant scientist like Albert Einstein or perhaps someone you went to school with who aced their exams. These individuals certainly reflect a form of intelligence, the kind that is captured by traditional standardized tests and expressed as an intelligence quotient. Many behavioral scientists have, however, come to appreciate that intelligence comes in a variety of forms (Gardner, 1987).

In particular, emotional intelligence—the ability to understand our own feelings and recognize and influence those of others—has received a great deal of attention (Mayer, Salovey, et al., 2008; Mayer et al., 2001). Similar to “mindset,” emotional intelligence has received widespread attention and, in some cases, been stretched well beyond what that research indicates (Paul, 1999).

While researchers continue to debate the merits of different theoretical frameworks, the following components are generally acknowledged as foundational to emotional intelligence. Self-aware ness—the ability to understand our own feelings and the impact they have on others—is considered paramount. Possessing self-awareness opens the door to self-regulation—the ability to manage and control our emotions in contextually appropriate ways. Social awareness—our ability to understand the emotions of others—is critical for empathy. Finally, emotionally intelligent individuals display well-developed social skills—learned abilities that enable them to behave competently and appropriately within social situations.

 The value of any form of intelligence resides in its contributions to success and quality of life. Individuals possessing high levels of emotional intelligence excel at understanding themselves and navigating the social world adaptively. Unsurprisingly, these characteristics are positively related to a variety of desirable behaviors and outcomes. For instance, the emotionally intelligent have larger social networks of better quality, exhibit pro-social behaviors, and have more positive peer and family relations. The emotionally intelligent also display lower rates of undesirable behaviors such as illegal drug and alcohol abuse and fewer poor relationships with friends and family (Mayer, Roberts, et al., 2008).

 Of direct relevance to our purposes, emotional intelligence is critical for successful coaches (Ackley, 2016; Thelwell at al., 2008) While some individuals are fortunate to be endowed naturally with high levels of emotional intelligence, there is a substantial body of research indicating that gains can be made through training in the four main components: self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and social skills ( Cobb & Mayer, 2000; Guseh at al., 2015) The NCPP uses evidence-based techniques to help practitioners improve their emotional intelligence in ways that will positively impact their coaching.

For many, the term “subconscious” brings to mind Dr. Sigmund Freud, still the most frequently cited individual in published scientific literature. Freud’s legacy is controversial, and with few exceptions, this fact led to mainstream psychological researchers focusing their attention exclusively on conscious processes during much of the 20th century. However, the tide changed, and a large and growing body of evidence demonstrates that our perceptions, motivations, beliefs, emotions, and actions are heavily influenced by mechanisms operating outside our awareness. This research work indicates that subconscious mental functions not only impact our behavior profoundly and automatically but are also far more sophisticated and flexible than previously believed (Bargh & Morsella, 2008).

 In the NCPP, we focus on understanding and harnessing the subconscious mind’s contributions to the pursuit and achievement of goals and overcoming obstacles to success. The basis for our work lies in a large body of evidence demonstrating that our perceptions of people, objects, and events in our environment facilitate specific behavioral responses, often without our conscious awareness (Higgins & Bargh, 1987). This is possible because, even in the absence of our awareness, perceptual information can activate (or prime) internal representations (stored knowledge) that, in turn, have become associated with specific behavioral responses. In many cases, these responses are desirable. Not always, however. In these circumstances, techniques proven capable of forging new associations between perceptual experiences and more adaptive behavioral responses hold great potential for positive change.

We provide training in the use of a variety of evidence-based tools that capitalize on the power of subconscious processing. One, the implementation intention technique, was developed to automatize desired, goal-directed behaviors in a manner that minimizes conscious intent (Gollwitzer & Schaal, 1998). A large body of research indicates that this approach is effective in a wide variety of contexts and across a broad demographic range (Achtziger et al., 2008; Freydefont et al., 2016; Schweiger Gallo Gollwitzer, 2007). In short, implementation intentions involve creating linkages between situations and goal-directed responses that are very specific with regard to what, when, and how. If your intention is to quit smoking, for example, then one implementation intention might be “if tempted to light a cigarette when I smell smoke, then I will immediately chew a stick of nicotine gum.” The objective here is to remove conscious decision making and, thus, the opportunity to stray off course. With repetition, this association between the perceptual experience of smelling smoke and the behavioral response of chewing gum becomes increasingly automatic and subconsciously engaged.

An elaboration of the implementation intention technique involves adding mental contrasting. Here, individuals envision their desired future goal state and contrast it with anticipated obstacles (Oettingen et al., 2009).  For our smoker, this might involve imagining breathing easier, not feeling shame and guilt for needing a cigarette break, etc. This is contrasted with imagining how it would feel if they were invited to join the work group for a smoke after lunch. This addition has proven highly effective in a wide variety of domains, including quitting smoking (Mutter et al., 2020), getting people to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Kim et al., 2022),  reducing alcohol intake (Wittleder et al., 2019) and meat consumption (Loy et al., 2016), and improving adherence to a program of physical activity (Sheeran et al., 2013; Wittleder et al., 2019).

One of the most striking things about the brain is the fact that it is continuously being reshaped by our experiences and behaviors. In turn, these brain changes support and strengthen the very same behaviors moving forward. This neuroplasticity is the physiology of learning, and understanding and exploiting its power is integral to the NCPP.

 Science has long recognized that the development of the immature brain is guided both by the unfolding of a genetically programmed plan and by experience. In fact, deprivation of specific experiences during this developmental period can have permanent effects on brain organization (Hubel & Wiesel, 1963; Wiesel & Hubel, 1963). However, as recently as the early 1980s, the prevailing view among neuroscientists was that experience-dependent changes in brain organization cease once we reach adulthood. In fact, early discoveries suggesting otherwise initially had great difficulty getting published (Kaas et al., 1983; Merzenich et al., 1983).

Today, the consensus is that changes in our experiences and behaviors induce reorganizational changes in brain function and structure throughout the lifespan. This brain plasticity occurs when we experience either decreases or increases in stimulation. An extreme example of both occurs when an individual undergoes an amputation. As a result of being deprived of normal stimulation, areas of the brain that were involved in experiencing sensations or controlling movements of the now-absent hand are repurposed and become responsive to the use of the remaining hand. Remarkably, even after more than 30 years, the effects of such extreme deprivation can be partly reversed. When an amputee receives a hand transplant that restores sensory and motor stimulation to the brain, patterns of activity shift back toward normal and support improvements in feeling and use of the new hand (Frey, 2020; Frey et al., 2008).

Dramatic examples such as this show that the organization of even the fully mature human brain is very much dependent on our experiences. Fortunately, such extremes are not required to change your brain in ways that support your behaviors.

Neuroplastic changes in our brains are happening all the time and across multiple scales in time and space. Learning to write with your non-dominant hand is one way to illustrate these co-dependent changes in your brain and behavior (Philip & Frey, 2016). Within minutes to hours of initiating practice, synaptic connections between neurons in areas involved in movement and sensation of the non-dominant hand are strengthened. Practicing consistently for days to weeks produces new synaptic connections within the neural networks that support the increasing refinement of movement patterns. Months to years of practice will result in the recruitment of additional motor and sensory neurons, causing an expansion of the brain territory devoted to representing the left hand. Structural changes, including increased myelinization of neurons within these regions, also become evident at this longer time scale (Kaas et al., 1983; Sanes & Donoghue, 2000).

The training and tools provided in the NCPP incorporate design features that have been shown to enhance neuroplasticity and solidify corresponding behavioral changes. For instance, neuroplasticity is driven by consistent, incremental practice over time, and these changes are significantly enhanced when training is undertaken deliberately, with focused attention (Merzenich et al., 1996). By taking such facts into account, we seek to optimize behavioral changes in our practitioners and their clients. 

We hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the scientific basis of the NCPP. There is a great deal more to be had by those who undertake the training, and the program is constantly evolving to keep pace with the rapid changes in evidence.