Derren Brown is a British illusionist who specialises in psychological techniques that give the appearance of mind-reading and thought control. Some of his most famous stunts include apparently playing Russion roulette on live TV, and performing as a medium before an audience of spiritualists in the US. He shares some of his secrets with New 杏吧原创.
How did you acquire your psychological skills?
I started as a hypnotist and found the area fascinating. However, I didn鈥檛 want to be a full-time stage hypnotist, and equally hypnotherapy sounded a pretty grotesque line to take. So it left me with a bunch of skills I wasn鈥檛 sure how to apply, until I started performing 鈥渃lose-up鈥� magic. This became my career for a while, but it was always the psychology of magic that interested me more than the sleight of hand. So eventually I came to fuse the two skill bases into roughly what I鈥檓 doing now.
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Can you tell if someone is lying to you?
The truthful answer is that sometimes it鈥檚 very easy and sometimes it鈥檚 quite tough. It all depends on the person. There鈥檚 a lot of research in this area, and technology being developed as we speak, which wouldn鈥檛 be happening if you could reliably spot a lie by a few classic signs. However, with about three-quarters of people I can tell pretty much instantaneously, and the more they are put on the spot, the easier it is.
What are the most common giveaways?
Generally people make tiny movements 鈥� often 鈥渕icro-signals鈥� that are too small to spot without special recording equipment 鈥� which seem to be unconscious attempts to stop the lie from coming out. The common ones we all know: a hand comes near the mouth, or a swallow before the answer. More subtly but often more effectively, one can look for shifts from the unconscious behaviours that are triggered by honest answers: for example, is the eye contact suddenly different? Does the person repeatedly look off to the left as she searches for true answers to questions, then suddenly look off to the right or hold eye contact when she gives one particular answer? If in doubt, a person鈥檚 guilt can normally be amplified by asking increasingly detailed questions, so if you are not sure straight away, you can persevere. It is not an exact science.
What psychological traits are you able to exploit?
There are plenty of common choices people make. My tour manager delights in asking theatre staff to think of a vegetable, and then he writes down 鈥渃arrot鈥� and shows them. It鈥檚 a hoary old trick but if you鈥檙e not aware of population stereotypes like this it can be very effective. Part of manipulating people鈥檚 apparently free choices relies on discovering these quirks at quite an obscure level, and then knowing how to push people in one direction or another through carefully worded instructions.
For example, if someone chooses a letter of the alphabet and I try to guess it, I鈥檓 starting with only a 1 in 26 chance of being right 鈥� that鈥檚 tough. But if I pick someone who I can see has been viewing previous stunts with some cynicism, or who I sense wants to catch me out, I can pretty much guarantee he鈥檒l think of a Q or a Z. He thinks he鈥檚 being unpredictable, in reality the opposite is true.
Stage hypnotists can successfully hypnotise only a small proportion of the people who get up on stage, but you seem to be able to trick almost everyone. How come 鈥� or perhaps the people who aren鈥檛 fooled don鈥檛 make it into the final edit?
If things fail, we always reflect that in the show 鈥� it鈥檚 a rule. Otherwise you would just show the few times something worked, which would be pointless. So I am always very fair with that. However, I can normally spot a suggestible type, and I normally get to point out the person I want to use and give myself that advantage. And the presence of a TV camera (unless it鈥檚 hidden) will often heighten whatever natural suggestibility the person has. The same thing happens if the person knows who I am. Self-consciousness is a great way of making people very responsive.
What do you think about people who use skills like yours to take money from gullible customers, like professional fortune tellers and mediums?
I guess it ranges from laughable to vile. I鈥檓 honest about the dishonesty in what I do. I love people to know that I use trickery. But if, like the worst of these people, you are trampling over the personal memories that someone has of a lost loved one, and exploiting their grief for your own ego, then I think it鈥檚 indefensible. And if people are being made to make life decisions based on false information, to quote Teller of the great magician/sceptic duo Penn and Teller, then that鈥檚 quite serious. I don鈥檛 understand the defence that it can provide some comfort for the sitter. How arrogant does a person have to be to decide that his lies are good for that person?
鈥淲ith three-quarters of people I can tell if they鈥檙e lying pretty much instantaneously鈥�
Do you ever use your skills in everyday life, for example when you are selling your house, or chatting someone up?
No, not really, unless I鈥檓 pushed. It feels odd to slip into that mode in real life.
How good are you at poker?
