Magic, mentalism, stage hypnosis

[CookieJon]

By the way, what book is it? As far as I'm aware he hasn't published a book on the basics of anything and I'm pretty sure I have all his books/lecture notes ... If he has, my mega library is missing something and I won't rest until it is discovered.

I could be wrong, but I thought he gave a lot of techniques from his old repertoire away in The Devil's Picturebook. (I think it's a DVD, not a book)

[DRSB]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

[Rum]

The book is Tricks of the Mind. He has sections on how to hypnotize, sleight of hand, cold reading, memory tricks, NLP and a great final section on scepticism and atheism.

Odd that NLP (neuro-linguistic programming)is included. It is a well recognised set of skills to do with counselling and communication and building rapport. Not quite in the same category as sleight of hand etc. I would have thought.

[GeneticJen]

By the way, what book is it? As far as I'm aware he hasn't published a book on the basics of anything and I'm pretty sure I have all his books/lecture notes ... If he has, my mega library is missing something and I won't rest until it is discovered.

I could be wrong, but I thought he gave a lot of techniques from his old repertoire away in The Devil's Picturebook. (I think it's a DVD, not a book)

It is a DVD and it does teach some of his card tricks. But we were talking about teaching the basics, and I wouldn't agree that's a DVD covering the basics. I don't think someone could learn card magic for the first time from that.

[GeneticJen]

The book is Tricks of the Mind. He has sections on how to hypnotize, sleight of hand, cold reading, memory tricks, NLP and a great final section on scepticism and atheism.

Odd that NLP (neuro-linguistic programming)is included. It is a well recognised set of skills to do with counselling and communication and building rapport. Not quite in the same category as sleight of hand etc. I would have thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-ling ... ontroversy

[Geoff]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

I tend to agree with this...in fact one reason I believe I would be a poor hypnosis subject is that I'm pretty much completely resistant to advertising, other than those that just present facts about their product. For example, I will, almost always, choose "own brand" products over heavily advertised "big name" brands.

One thing that interest me is how Derren Brown seems able, almost at a glance, to select those people he thinks will be susceptible to his manipulations. I'm confident, for example, that I wouldn't have fallen for the "giraffe" tricks that he used with the lady in the toy shop (if you're familiar with that episode).

[DRSB]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

I tend to agree with this...in fact one reason I believe I would be a poor hypnosis subject is that I'm pretty much completely resistant to advertising, other than those that just present facts about their product. For example, I will, almost always, choose "own brand" products over heavily advertised "big name" brands.

One thing that interest me is how Derren Brown seems able, almost at a glance, to select those people he thinks will be susceptible to his manipulations. I'm confident, for example, that I wouldn't have fallen for the "giraffe" tricks that he used with the lady in the toy shop (if you're familiar with that episode).

Yeah, he says in the book: those that pay attention and scrutinize are easy to hypnotise; those that are half way interested only, they are the dificult ones, they spot the manipulation instantly.

[Feck]

A professional Hypnotherapist failed to make any in roads into my head ( and a couple of shrinks and a pschologist and the CBT lot and 4 normal doctors and lot's of Pschiatric nurses ) ... But we do need to drag Peter to a Meet !

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You have to "play along" with hypnosis for it to work. Surrendering to someone else is not something I do easily.

[Feck]

You have to "play along" with hypnosis for it to work. Surrendering to someone else is not something I do easily.

[apophenia]

I'm sure a hypnotist could slap me around and call me Susan and I'd be all the more for it. IIRC, people with dissociative disorders and people with high levels of schizotypal thinking are very vulnerable to hypnotism (and I'm like, 6 standard deviations from the mean on the latter).

What I wonder is, with regard to cold reading and mentalism, is it more raw talent than learned skill, or vice versa, or are both essential. Can one be a good mentalist or cold reader with one and not the other? Are there specific personality traits which tend to coincide with people who are especially good at these things -- does being naturally dishonest make you a better con man / mentalist / cold reader? I'm not really interested in the magic part of the thread, but I suppose the same could be asked of it as well; are certain types preferentially attracted to magic, and are certain traits strongly linked to successful magic, besides practice, hard work and a good teacher?

[DRSB]

Some say that what is being manipulated is the "etheric body". What exactly is the etheric body?

What about telepathy, by the way, is there such a thing?

[Geoff]

I'm sure a hypnotist could slap me around and call me Susan and I'd be all the more for it. IIRC, people with dissociative disorders and people with high levels of schizotypal thinking are very vulnerable to hypnotism (and I'm like, 6 standard deviations from the mean on the latter).

What I wonder is, with regard to cold reading and mentalism, is it more raw talent than learned skill, or vice versa, or are both essential. Can one be a good mentalist or cold reader with one and not the other? Are there specific personality traits which tend to coincide with people who are especially good at these things -- does being naturally dishonest make you a better con man / mentalist / cold reader? I'm not really interested in the magic part of the thread, but I suppose the same could be asked of it as well; are certain types preferentially attracted to magic, and are certain traits strongly linked to successful magic, besides practice, hard work and a good teacher?

Not sure as regards some of the other skills, but there was a Derren Brown programme on Channel 4 here where he trained a guy off the street how to con people into believing he was a faith healer, then went to the US and fooled an established faith healer and his congregation.