Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks
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0:01 - 0:02Alright.
-
0:02 - 0:05I'd like to start
with a small imagination exercise. -
0:06 - 0:09Imagine you're sitting at this table,
facing me right now. -
0:09 - 0:13Now, I'm going to ask you
to push one of these cards towards me. -
0:13 - 0:17So please imagine yourself
pushing one of these cards towards me. -
0:19 - 0:22OK, so take the number
matching the card you pushed -
0:22 - 0:24and remember it --
it's important for later. -
0:25 - 0:28Now, I'm going to flip
through this deck of cards -
0:28 - 0:31and ask you to choose a card
that you will see in the deck. -
0:31 - 0:33Are you ready?
-
0:36 - 0:39Alright, now that you have
your card in mind, -
0:39 - 0:42add the value of your card
to your previous number. -
0:43 - 0:46For example, if you chose
the six of clubs, add six, -
0:46 - 0:48if it's an ace, add one,
-
0:48 - 0:50and take 11 for any picture cards.
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0:52 - 0:55Have you got your final number in mind?
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0:55 - 0:56Perfect.
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0:56 - 1:00So please take the item
matching your final number. -
1:01 - 1:03Now, here's what's funny.
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1:03 - 1:06There are going to be
a lot of people watching this video, -
1:06 - 1:10and you all have different quirks
with different preferences. -
1:11 - 1:12And yet,
-
1:12 - 1:17the vast majority of you right now
is thinking about a kiwi, -
1:17 - 1:20or, if you're left-handed,
probably a corn on the cob. -
1:20 - 1:23Yes, I just tricked you.
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1:23 - 1:25And I used your psychological biases
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1:25 - 1:28to influence both of your decisions.
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1:29 - 1:30I work in the MAGIC Lab
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1:30 - 1:32at Goldsmiths University of London,
-
1:32 - 1:36which is not only a place
where we make assistants vanish, -
1:36 - 1:41but where we use magic tricks
to study psychological processes, -
1:41 - 1:45such as attention, perception,
deception and free will. -
1:46 - 1:51I am fascinated by the subtle factors
that influence our choices, -
1:51 - 1:54and how understanding our flaws
can give us back some power. -
1:55 - 1:59Magic tricks provide a powerful tool
to investigate this, -
1:59 - 2:02and our experiments have shown that.
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2:03 - 2:09First, we humans tend to go
for the easiest decisions. -
2:10 - 2:12With the card trick I did,
-
2:12 - 2:15most people tend to choose
the card that I want them to choose, -
2:15 - 2:18because I'm presenting it
a bit longer than the others. -
2:18 - 2:21And it becomes the easiest
option for your brain. -
2:22 - 2:23In our case,
-
2:23 - 2:26the majority of you probably chose
the ten of hearts, right? -
2:27 - 2:29And a lot of other tricks
are based on this principle -
2:29 - 2:31of easy decision.
-
2:31 - 2:33Because magicians are very aware
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2:33 - 2:39that our brain, not to say "we,"
tends to be a bit lazy. -
2:39 - 2:44The exercise we did with the four cards
is also a good example of this. -
2:44 - 2:46It's based on another trick
I investigated, -
2:46 - 2:49where I ask participants
to physically push -
2:49 - 2:50one of the four cards towards me.
-
2:50 - 2:55We found that around 60 percent of people
choose the third card from the left, -
2:55 - 2:56and if they were left-handed,
-
2:56 - 2:59they typically chose
the second card from the left. -
2:59 - 3:02This is based on the easy-option
principle again, -
3:02 - 3:04because the card that most people choose
-
3:05 - 3:08is the most easy to reach
by the dominant hand. -
3:09 - 3:12So, I knew that most of you
-
3:12 - 3:14would end up with one
of these two numbers, -
3:14 - 3:16and this allowed me to estimate
-
3:16 - 3:19the two most probable things
you would end up with. -
3:20 - 3:25But this is not just about magic.
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3:25 - 3:29It's also about how we are influenced
in our day-to-day lives. -
3:31 - 3:34You know, stories and politicians
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3:34 - 3:37play with your mind as well, all the time,
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3:37 - 3:41because they also know
that we tend to choose and like -
3:41 - 3:43what's easily grabbed or seen.
-
3:44 - 3:46For instance, when you are in a store,
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3:46 - 3:48choosing a bottle of wine or a bag of rice
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3:48 - 3:51among many lined up on vertical shelves,
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3:51 - 3:53your first instinct is to look
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3:53 - 3:58only at the ones that are on the shelves
in front of your eyes, right? -
3:58 - 4:01It's easier and requires less effort.
-
4:02 - 4:04Did you know that many brands
actually negotiate -
4:04 - 4:06to be at eye-level
on grocery store shelves -
4:06 - 4:09because of that easy-option principle?
-
4:10 - 4:14And this is a tactic
that many politicians use. -
4:15 - 4:19When information is right in front
of our eyes on social media, -
4:19 - 4:20it's easily accessible,
-
4:20 - 4:23and it absolutely affects
our voting behaviors. -
4:24 - 4:27Political outcomes,
such as the Brexit referendum -
4:27 - 4:29or the American election in 2016,
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4:29 - 4:33were heavily influenced
by targeted advertising, -
4:33 - 4:34making some information,
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4:35 - 4:37which was not necessarily truthful,
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4:37 - 4:42disproportionately easily accessible
and visible to specific audiences -
4:42 - 4:43to influence their votes.
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4:44 - 4:48But here is the good news.
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4:48 - 4:52Some simple factors have an impact
on how influencible we are. -
4:53 - 4:56In an experiment using the trick
with the four cards, -
4:56 - 4:59we found that explicitly
informing participants -
4:59 - 5:00that they have a choice
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5:00 - 5:04can actually lead them to make
more deliberate decisions, -
5:04 - 5:07as opposed to behaving in the way
we are trying to make them behave. -
5:08 - 5:10In other words,
-
5:10 - 5:14I either simply asked participants
to push one of the cards, -
5:14 - 5:16or I said,
-
5:16 - 5:18"Choose a card, and then push it."
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5:19 - 5:21And when asked to choose a card,
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5:21 - 5:24the percentage of people who impulsively
chose the most reachable one -
5:25 - 5:28dropped from 60 to 35 percent.
-
5:29 - 5:35So, it seems that when we are reminded
that we have control over our choices, -
5:35 - 5:37and know that our actions matter,
-
5:37 - 5:39as opposed to acting without thinking,
-
5:39 - 5:42we can actually make
more personal decisions -
5:42 - 5:44and are less easily influenced.
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5:44 - 5:46Let me show you another trick,
-
5:46 - 5:49invented by a British
mentalist Derren Brown, -
5:49 - 5:50to make my point.
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5:51 - 5:54This one uses what's called
"priming" in psychology. -
5:55 - 5:58Priming happens when exposure to something
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5:58 - 6:01influences your thoughts
and behavior later on, -
6:01 - 6:02without you being aware
-
6:02 - 6:05that the first thing
is guiding you to a certain extent. -
6:05 - 6:08The trick is usually done
in a more intimate context, -
6:08 - 6:10where I would be directly facing you,
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6:10 - 6:12but we'll give it a try together.
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6:12 - 6:15Just focus on me as best as you can,
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6:15 - 6:19but do not let me influence your choice.
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6:20 - 6:23I'm going to try and mentally transmit
the identity of a playing card -
6:23 - 6:24I'm thinking of.
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6:24 - 6:25Are you ready?
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6:26 - 6:29OK, so first make the color
bright and vivid. -
6:29 - 6:31Imagine a screen in your mind,
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6:31 - 6:34and on the screen, the little numbers,
low down in the corners of the cards, -
6:34 - 6:36and then in the top of the cards.
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6:36 - 6:38And then the things in the middle,
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6:38 - 6:39in the center of the cards,
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6:39 - 6:41the boom, boom, boom, the suits.
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6:42 - 6:43Did you get it?
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6:45 - 6:48OK, so I'm going to bet
that the majority of you -
6:48 - 6:50thought about the three of diamonds,
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6:50 - 6:54but chose another card, right?
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6:54 - 6:56As you might have noticed,
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6:56 - 7:00I heavily tried to influence
your choice with my gestures -
7:00 - 7:02while giving you the instructions.
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7:02 - 7:03By studying this trick,
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7:03 - 7:07we found that around 18 percent of people
choose the three of diamonds, -
7:07 - 7:11and nearly 40 percent choose
the three of any suit, -
7:11 - 7:15while being completely oblivious
of the fact I was manipulating them. -
7:15 - 7:18So what happened here?
-
7:19 - 7:20Because you were aware
-
7:20 - 7:22that I was trying
to influence your choice, -
7:22 - 7:25you probably paid more attention
to what I was doing. -
7:25 - 7:29And this led the majority of you
to choose more consciously -
7:29 - 7:31than our participants
who have no information -
7:31 - 7:33about who I am, what I'm studying
-
7:33 - 7:36or what I'm trying to do with their minds.
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7:37 - 7:40So the thing is,
-
7:40 - 7:42in all of our experiments,
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7:42 - 7:46we managed to heavily influence
people's card choices, -
7:46 - 7:50while they report feeling completely free
and in control of their choice. -
7:50 - 7:52And this lack of self-awareness
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7:52 - 7:54makes politicians, companies
-
7:54 - 7:58and other people's influence
all the more powerful, -
7:58 - 8:01because we might think we are in control
of our choice and beliefs -
8:01 - 8:02when we are not.
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8:04 - 8:07Politically or in our consumer behaviors,
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8:07 - 8:08if we don't pay attention,
-
8:08 - 8:12misleading content or showy ads
can just trick our mind. -
8:13 - 8:17What if, in our day-to-day lives,
-
8:17 - 8:21we would stop more often
and consciously choose -
8:21 - 8:24before acting on this impulsive,
reactive beast inside of us? -
8:25 - 8:28We can actually act more consciously
-
8:28 - 8:30if we keep in mind
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8:30 - 8:32that we have the capacity
to be influenced. -
8:33 - 8:34Thank you.
- Title:
- Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks
- Speaker:
- Alice Pailhès
- Description:
-
Are you in control of your choices? Magic tricks might reveal otherwise, says scientist and illusionist Alice Pailhès. Watch closely as she performs magic tricks that unveil how your brain works, how you can be subtly influenced and what that means for free will and your day-to-day life. Did she guess your card right?
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 08:48
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
marialadias edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks |