First important point here: Derren Brown in an atheist and ultra skeptic. He is against all kinds of magical thinking. Second point: the thing that makes him so brilliant to watch is that it is unlikely that he uses confederates or stooges. And before we get too carried away here, the tricks Derren has used in all three videos are nothing other than those used by the average stage hypnotist. What makes it look so amazing is the presentation; it is made to look like magic, but then the man himself then debunks the explanation. He is nothing other than a charlatan, which he openly admits. In fact, he carries out these displays of magic so he can use psychological trickery and sleight of hand to show that charlatans can, indeed, dupe people so easily. The tools at work during the conversions are a combination of compliance, obedience, expectation and simple hypnotic suggestion. The first thing we need to remember is that the participants were responding to an advertisement for a discussion on spirituality: they were therefore already interested in the subject whether they agreed with it or not; it could be that they were not quite as skeptical as we are lead to believe, but I don't think that variable is as important as it might first seem. It is very easy to gather personal information about people who apply for tickets to a show, which can then be used in the show itself (remember the first two conversions are very different in nature); this is a trick used by evangelists such as Peter Popoff. We are already aware of people falling back during a conversion; this image is indelibly linked with religious conversion. Additionally, before the presentation, Brown has already made people aware that he can convert people with touch. In other words, his audience is primed even before the presentation has begun. The correct ambience is created by the carefully controlled lighting (known to increase suggestibility) and the fact that he is standing at the front above the audience behind a makeshift pulpit (thus becoming an authority figure). Anybody who is aware of the work of Stanley Milgram will see how powerful obedience is: we can very quickly abandon our morality and existing beliefs under pressure from an authority figure. What makes Brown more authoritative is the presence of the evangelist, who leaves in shock halfway through the presentation, sending out signals to the audience that something scary is going on, thus inadvertently playing into Brown's hands. Listen very carefully to the second conversion, where he tells the participant that he will catch him: by doing this, he is giving him a suggestion that he will fall backwards that is harder to resist because it is indirect. He also creates fear in the participant by telling him he will not be hurt, therefore using what is known in hypnotism as a "negative suggestion": putting an idea in his head that he might be hurt by stating the opposite. Easy to reproduce: if I say: "don't think of a pink elephant", you think of a pink elephant. So, by invoking an emotional reaction, he has already exerted control over his participant. This will increase his suggestibility. The statement he makes to the first participant is "you don't believe in anything", accompanied with body language deliberately designed to appear judgmental. Never underestimate the importance of non-verbal communication. Note how he doesn't mention God at this stage: "you don't believe in anything." He is very sneakily amplifying her skepticism to look like cynicism, thus embarrassing her. And he does this so casually, in a way that makes it look like he was talking about God. This is a very powerful technique used by barristers and attorneys to catch defendants and witnesses off guard. Additionally, she may think that the rest of the audience are already converts (we know from watching the clip that they were not, but individual members did not appear to know each other). This would then make her feel even more uneasy. This brings in the final variable: compliance. Notice how the whole crowd falls after seeing the first guy do it. In the 1950s, Asch showed just how powerful compliance is (even more powerful than obedience). Have you ever wondered why we change when we get into a crowd? How a bunch of respectable people with successful careers suddenly turns into a mob of violent and dangerous hooligans at a football match? Compliance is an inordinately powerful phenomenon. To conclude, Brown is using a combination of tried and tested psychological techniques combined with hypnotic suggestions. It is easier than you think to do this kind of thing, hence the prevalence of scumbag evangelists and mediums. So, although there is nothing magical going on here, there's nothing fake about the psychological techniques: the Chinese thought reform program used precisely the same these techniques to convert people to Communism.

By Simonmaal - James Randi forums