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PECOS-9 comments on "Mind reading" - how is this done? - Less Wrong Discussion
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I think that a lot of Derren Brown's stuff, while not exactly fake, is done by hypnotizing them off-camera.
So he either hypnotizes them and finds out some information then wipes the memory of them telling him the information, or he hypnotizes them and gives a post-hypnotic suggestion that they will make a specific choice (but not remember being hypnotized to make the choice).
Edit: This post received 4 downvotes, can someone explain? Is it because of a general skepticism about hypnosis? I gave a source on post-hypnotic amnesia below but I'm still receiving downvotes. Even if you think the supposed effects achieved by stage magicians are illegitimate in some way (e.g. people are just playing along), hypnosis as an explanation for how Derren Brown does these tricks is still valid.
Can you cite any evidence that hypnotism can have such effects on memory? As I understand it, the research on hypnotism largely indicates that such effect as it has is no more than you would expect from the fact that people are far more deferential to authority and inclined to do what they're told to do than they realize. Wiping memories and post-hypnotic suggestion were, I though, confined to fictional hypnotism.
People wipe out memories of their dreams quite frequently soon after waking up. It not something very mystical.
Post-hypnotic suggestion is also a pretty fancy word. If I tell you to wear a red shirt tomorrow and you indeed follow the suggestion and wear a red shirt you can call that post-hypnotic suggestion. I say something and you do something in the future.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthypnotic_amnesia
"memory wiping" might not be the best term for it, since the memory is still in there, just really hard to access, but it's definitely a real effect.
I've also personally used hypnosis to achieve the effects on friends of mine (who I'm certain weren't just pretending), as well as to many strangers on omegle (who could have been pretending, but based on what I know about hypnosis I doubt they were).