I think that it is part of the human mechanism in general to preserve energies and resources. In times when we believe we can't usefully be alert, we go into a trance-like state, at least partially to preserve energy. I imagine that the rare times Derren's methods don't work is because the target is not in a trance state, and perhaps is unusually resistant to trances.
He's good. He chunks down the process of forgetting something. It seems like he's anchoring the people on the shoulders or wherever he's touching them. The verbal suggestion " stop... thinking about it now..." repeated over and over is effective. The little bop on the forehead to trigger the remembering of the destination. That's happens to be the 1st point on the bladder meridian. He's doing some... other stuff there too. Brilliant.
I like the way Derren Brown shows footage even when he makes mistakes, it's very modest of him. It looks like he does all of those tricks on the Northern Line. It would be so cool to see Derren Brown while on the tube.
The most important part of the conversation is before he makes him forget, this is when he sets up the anchor of waving his hand, thus anchor is connecting moving the hand with not thinking and clearing the mind.
waht STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. STOP are u THINKING about. .............. love it
The subject is asked first if they have a good memory. This is to establish the fact that the person doesn't readily forget things, and also to strengthen the effect when the person forgets something that they should be able to recall easily. Next, the person is asked to think of a time when they forgot something, and as they turn their attention inwards and actually access the information
I like how Darren kept saying "What stop, thinking about it, what stop, thinking about it, what stop are you getting off at?" The way he was saying it was basically telling you to stop thinking about where you are getting off. Darren really is great at everything he does and he still amazes me.
I also think it's not to be underestimated the effect of not only to be unexpectedly spoken to, but also having a camera on you, all of these add to the suggestibility of the people.
The way Derren waves his had is an anchor(NLP expression) to the feeling of being unable to think of something. If you haven't already heard NLP , that is a very good observation.
He makes some suggestions. One is that it's easy to forget things that are on the tip-of-your-tongue and gone-from-your-mind, also linking that with his "hand movement". So when he asks the question (with hand movement), the subject does what the hand reminds him of....which is, "forgetting". Another, is linking "what stop, thinking about it, what stop are you getting off at? See the phrase "stop thinking about it" in there?
I think the trance is done by distracting the conscious mind by waving and the background noise. They are asked to think of something, then brought to a neutral state and then told to stop thinking about it. Without the background noise, keen minds are less distracted and not 'forced' to focus.
the mind perceive his questions differently, it actually connects the sentences as "what STOP THINKING..." so those ppl stop thinking about the train stations!
He says "think about it, keep thinking about it" combined with some skillful bodylanguage so they never really stop thinking about where they are going. Thats why, in the same matter, the book and movie "the secret" says that you should wish "may I be happy" instead of "may I become happy".
Darren Brown is really amazing. I've always wanted to see if he could pull his "tricks" on me. I'm pretty sure he would win this one because I will easily loose my train of thought.
Also, forgot to mention, the "trains of thought can become confused" line, notice the emphasis on "trains" then he hurries through "of thought..." to "confused", therefore putting the idea in his head that trains can be confused easily, and then linking that again to the hand gesture.
1:31 "So now that your thinking about it, what stop, thinking about it now, what stop where you gonna get off at?" he says "stop thinking about it now" two times.
They film the station because he already said at the beginning he's getting off at Archway. When they realised that was the station they were stopped at they moved the camera so the audience could see that even when he's at the station itself he can't remember.
this is really good lol i bet he has a right laugh he uses the same technique all the time just in different ways to change ppls thoughts and reactions so cool lol
@Fredde1Widde (I add) He says to every person that "stop thinking about it", then they stop thinking about it, and when he snaps fingers or whatever they know it again.
I can't even imagin knowing something one minute and have someone come up to me and wave there hand and then I forget. I can't even imagin. Its like the force from Star Wars...
Because we're not in rapport with Brown, meaning he's not communicating with us directly. There's no pressure on us. Also the streets are subliminally given to us between his different subjects.
which stop you got to go out? Archway. Archway, oh my god... it`s here.....missed it LMFAO. It`s amazing how you can trick ones mind. But that is really amazing
When they are consequently asked which stop they are getting off at, a sweep of the hands in front of the eyes, just as their eyes start to move to look upwards to attempt to access the information, should be enough to act as a pattern interrupt and at the same time trigger the desired response of the temporary amnesia that was re-lived previously.
Good god, this actually worked on ME. I was listening to the last guy, and Derren is like "What stop thinking about it now, what stop thinking about it now." I then realised I'd forgotten it myself, haha.
The great thing about Derren Brown is he embodies that quintessential British trait, self-deprecation, by showing how his mind trick is not entirely foolproof. (2:12, in this video, for example.)
It's all about anchors. Soon as he gets the eye accessing cue, he moves the hand over their eyes, and anchors the state of forgetfulness to the movement of the hand. Sometimes a couple times, and then fires it off when needed. Nevertheless, the speed at which he forms a usable anchor and his timing are amazing.
at the first one i think he uses a different method though he doesn't say "stop thinking about it now" but he more sort off makes the guy think about how it feels when you just suddenly forget something and when he just said that he snaps his finger and waves his hand in front of his face, then when he asks it again he waves his hand again, somewhat recalling that feeling maybe i'm no expert but as he didn't say "stop thinking about it now", thats how i would think he did it
This is called 'Neuro Association Conditioning'. Look again and see how he says 'Stop' when he moves his hand in front of the peoples eyes. This will tell you to stop (in this case of thinking what is the train station).
@MetalicAtheist The man that was the last subject of this didn't forget why he went on the underground (to meet a friend), which would disprove your point. Everyone was pretty bewildered and one man kept looking at the chart of stops in effort to remember again.
Usually when people recall something their eyes will look to one side. I think he waits for the eyes to move which signals that the brain is accessing the information...by waiving his hand in front of them at that moment it interrupts the thought process. Sort of like going into a room to get something but you get distracted and you forgot what you came in for...so you go back to the other room and suddenly you remember what it was.
Hahaha! OMFG! I just read your freaking comment! Guess what? I forgot what I was look at Derren's videos. I was like, "What am I doing?". After 8 seconds, I remembered what I was doing though. :P
he is a bit of everything, in my opinion... he is clearly gifted as well. and to suport him i can say this: ppl deny certain things. thus those ppl can't understand/accept these things...
Yeh you're right, I was just pointing it out here cuz the video on its own makes it look like you could just go up to anyone and it would work which, as you say, Derren always makes clear is not the case.
I was just thinking that when i was watching the movie (the first half of your sentence). Most people would cut out all their failures and show only their successes, he showed that it doesn't necessairily work with everyone.
Actualy the hand motion is part of it, but it doesn't matter what direction, its used as an anchor, whats he gets them into a confused state he waves his hand and the confused feeling gets accociated with it, like when you call a dog by its name enough times the dog accociates itself with it. Only this is much faster since we are humans lol.
I think it is VERY similar to the phenomenon of when you have the focused attention of a person (or an audience) and you say "do exactly what I say, okay ready? Touch your chin." [while you tug on your earlobe] -- most people will copy what they SEE, it's like their brain doesn't take the time to process the verbal instruction fast enough.
Listen to what he says, "thinking about it now, what stop, thinking about it now, what stop, thinking about it now are you getting off at" Notice in that sentence is the phrase "stop thinking about it now"
@haroliyk the last man isn't overdubbed, the last two shots of him just aren't synched with the voice. The last shot catches him just as he's finished speaking and that's the scene the voice 'belongs to', not the previous one where obviously his lips aren't moving. They probably had to cut out any shots of him looking pissed off :)
well he uses a combination of that sort of distraction with suggestion, notice how he says "stop thinking" and "TRAINS of though". What he's doing is putting other images into your mind, then giving you enough time to focus and remember them.
judging from the tie and the newspaper, the first guy was probably an investor who gets off at the same stop every day. How you could forget the same stop you take every day is beyond me
Those touches are supposed to be the anchors he's using to take the subjects back to the state of amnesia which he just suggested them while giving his quick and tricky speech..
here is how its done: Its easy he didn't command them to tell them what it is, he commanded to THINK about. they THOUGHT about it. only when he asked where they were going could they correctly answer. and i feel sorry for the last guy
@NovaFoxFM I think this is actually NLP neuro linguistic programming! In the sentence "What stop? Thinking about it now" there is the embeded command stop thinking about it now!
Key words used here: What stop, thinking about it now, what stop thinking about it now? - As mentioned at the start with the black cat - the command "stop thinking about it now" - is in the sentence... The brain hears this as "what STOP THINKING ABOUT IT NOW" and not "What Stop? Thinking about it now?" - Hope this makes sense...
The 3rd guy showed doubts (and perhaps a bit shocked) by the whole TV crew. He was too alerted to fall for Darren's commands. When Darren was waving his hands (to show train of thoughts), the guy wasn't even paying attention to Darren. The rapport was not built successfully with the 3rd guy. But the other 3 showed strong rapport. Their facial expression were more relaxed, eye were focused on Darren's dialog The 3rd guy was in a bit of "shock" emotion, hence no falling into the trick!
Yeah, it's because he repeats. "What STOP? THINKING ABOUT IT now" The people still remember, but are influenced by the command to push the thought out of their heads. I have no idea how he makes them remember it again though. Still very cool, so subtle. i wanna try it on my friends now.
ust had another watch of this, notice as hes explaining how "Suddenly its gone from your mind, just like that." he does a hand gesture in front of he mans face. this is linking the forgetfulness with that hand gesture, and immediately after he then asks him what stop hes getting off at, repeating the hand gesture, causing him to forget. in theory he could have asked him anything, and used the same gesture, and got the same response.
Lastly, "suggestibility" is greatly increased when Darren showed up with crew members, which suggests to the subject that Darren is a person of "authority." When one perceives an authority figure, the tendency to obey may be greatly increased.
I'm listening to some videos on hypnosis and I think, based on what I'm learning, that it's got something to do with a few things. First the context they're in is a huge camera is in their face basically, two, their critical factors are being paralyzed temporarily by derren making intense eye contact, derrens talking really really fast so its hard to keep up with what he's saying waving his hand over their eyes to deepen the confusion/trance giving commands in that trance.
Because people's minds are so susceptive. Just listen to Darren. He'll say what "stop thinking about it", what "stop thinking about it", what stop are you getting off at. listen to it, he tells them to "STOP THINKING ABOUT IT" And that's exactly what your concious or subconcious mine does ( i don't knwo which)