Asking Strangers For Their Wallet Part 2 | TRICK OF THE MIND | Derren Brown

In Blackpool Derren Brown brazenly asks strangers to hand over their wallets, with suprising results! Part 2/2

#DerrenBrown #Psychic #TrickOfTheMind

Welcome to the official Derren Brown YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe and catch all the amazing moments of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection & showmanship!

Derren Brown is a British mentalist, illusionist and author. Since his television debut with Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000 he’s produced multiple series and specials, winning two Laurence Olivier Awards. Derren doesn’t claim to possess any supernatural powers and his acts are often designed to expose the methods of those who do. He often claims his impossible effects are merely achieved through "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection, and showmanship".

Follow The Man Himself:

[Dystdotmp]

oh, so this is what robery is like in canada.

[TheOddWorldOfJonas]

Although it seems fake, my mom actually does this to me all the time. Like, we begin talking while she is doing something, and then when I realize I'm taking out the trash, doing the dishes or something like that! It's literally just like this video, so I think it's real...

[markysparklies]

I will have a go at explaining this to people in Lehman's terms so bare with :P. The initial talking is rapport building with the man, he points and gets the man to mirror him pointing. He then steps back to see if the man is still mirroring. the man follows Derren as he steps back. Derren then goes to make a handshake motion but doesn't really shake his hand, this is to make the guy access his subconscious mind. Handshakes are so common and general that they don't need the conscious part of the brain to be performed. Instead of completing the handshake he kind of grabs and guides it. He then gives the man a bottle to hold, this is called an anchor, which traps the man in a sort of limbo subconscious state (hypnotized). And as people know when hypnotized people are more open to suggestion.Its pretty much covert or conversational hypnosis. I mean it takes a lot of practice and he is using many techniques so quickly and cleanly its quite difficult to suspect anything. It also fails more often than not but if i remember Derren does say on the end of this episode that worked on less than half of the people he tried it on.

[bjranga]

"can I just grab the others back off you ... so I can keep them? cheers."
fucking gold

[RakeshSamaddar]

At 0:38 the dude behind: "WTF is this man doing ??!!?!"

[knucklesamidge]

I think Derren's pure confidence and control over the situation would make many people suggestible to a similar level of the man in this video. He is a genius when it comes to psychology.

[dnjn]

I love how he turned giving the items back into keeping them

[lordsarcastic]

I'll tell you, this thing is real. It has happened to me twice. Fell for the first, didn't fall for the second one.

[Solarlite]

"That's the last time I give directions to a famous con artist and a camera crew..."

[smith]

I tried this and ended up looking like a Panda

[NoLimitsLeadership]

Milton model perfection, break it down:

1st Process

Note that somehow he's picked on a visitor – so already someone who may have looked slightly confused (and also we don't see any other pre-selection processes for suggestibility that may have happened).

Note also that he is wearing a suit, so he is managing the visual perception of himself as in some way respectable, trustworthy or perhaps an authority figure.

DB: Excuse me do you know which way the ... actual pleasure beach is the funfair

It is possible that there are intentionally unusual stresses in the pattern of the initial question to start generating a state of uncertainty. (Or this may just be Derren's own unconscious language pattern for influencing anyway; you'd have to ask him.)

Physical Rapport: The first, critical technique - the physical rapport: Using matching rapport of body language, he connects first with a close matching, then he breaks rapport by moving away and then moves back in slowly to encourage the person to mutually re-establish the rapport and so draws the person into full rapport again (from now on he's had it!)

DB: It's basically, so it is down there?

Starting the process of gaining his subjects mental agreement.

DB: Cos that's the tower isn't it?

Adding in a completely different question to confuse a bit.

DB: You don't mind me asking you, do you? No.

Direct instruction with a lost performative to 'not mind asking for anything', using a conversational postulate, with a tag question and then supplying the desired answer, the ending No, (using the 'No' here is quite important for negating the embedded negative command otherwise he might leave the guy thinking 'I mind you asking'.)

DB: You are happy to give that to me?

A direct instruction with unspecified referential index, i.e. "That" = anything really. And also the physical gestures providing the unconscious cues for giving and receiving.

DB: Ok so it's down there, right?

Gaining a mental confirmation and using a tag question to supply the desired answer.

DB: All right.

Simple lost performative instruction, for reassurance.

DB: Sorry about that, cheers, thanks ever so much.

Apologising and reciprocating to gain the acceptance of everything just said and continuing the reciprocity loop.

DB: Yeah right, great, so it's just down that way.

Lost performative for reassurance and asking the question again, to gain a further agreement to a request.

DB: So can you just grab that?

At this point he is using the language techniques, combined with a couple of important physical processes. Firstly the wording is a command framed as a question. Then actually giving the bottle: he is setting up reciprocity by giving the bottle, this includes a handshake pattern interrupt to generate confusion and the use of the bottle is also now a physical anchor for that state of both confusion and giving.

DB: Excuse me can I just grab your watch?

Brilliantly executed conversational postulate, it's an embedded instruction, phrased as a question and also the reciprocity – now you give me something back in exchange for the bottle.

DB: And err if you've got a phone on you as well? That'd be terrific.

Again nice conversational postulate, open ended pattern without a direct instruction to add in the request for the second item to distract further and so there is no time allowed to think about what is going on.

DB: Can I just grab your err? Thanks.

Embedded instruction, to take something unspecified.

DB: I'll take that off you. Lovely.

A direct instruction with unspecified referential index, plus reassurance provided by the lost performative.

DB: Cheers. Can I just grab your phone as well and your house key?

Expressing gratitude for the reciprocity process, reinforcing the reference to the second item and now adding a third item to further distract from the process and neatly keeping up the flow of giving and receiving.

DB: Yes, thank you.

Lost performative again for reassurance and the gratitude for reciprocity.

DB: Thank you very much, alright.

Just to be sure, do that pattern again, the other way round.

DB: So it's literally just down there?

Beginning to close the loop and the whole process using the original question and gaining another mental confirmation and keeping up the same easy going tone.

DB: And alright, lovely, thanks ever so much.

Two lost performatives for reassurance and the reciprocity again.

DB: Cheers mate, thank you.

And again reassurance and reciprocity, also gently mismatching the previous tone now to signal an ending of the process.

DB: You're fine, thanks.

Final direct embedded instruction that all is well, closing the process and the reciprocity loop with a final firm down tone of voice.

Amazing. Beautifully executed. The master at work.

2nd Pattern

We don't hear the opening of the conversation, clearly Derren gives him the stuff back and apologies and then off we go again...

DB: Can you just hold that a second, cheers.

Straight back into it, so funny - the embedded instruction masquerading as a question, the reciprocity of giving the bottle and giving thanks - I've given two things so now you owe me - and finally the physical anchor of the bottle to re-establish previous state of confusion and giving.

DB: Can I just grab those back off you, so I can keep them, cheers.

Embedded instruction and adding a reason after the question - it doesn't matter if the reason is good or not. (Try this experiment next time you need to get to the front of a queue or line, use something like: "Excuse me, sorry is it Ok if I just jump in front of you, because I need to get to the front, thanks, you don't mind do you, No. Cheers". We are so conditioned to hearing reasons for requests that it doesn't seem to matter if the reason given is nonsense, we still accept it.)

DB: Thanks ever so much cheers, thank you.

Closing the reciprocity loop completely.

DB: I think you were heading that way, weren't you?

Embedded command as conversational postulate, with tag question to reinforce.

DB: Thanks ever so much cheers.

Poor guy, don't mess with the DB!



Conclusions

So one message here is watch out, this stuff works, if you feel like you are becoming confused in a conversation, it may be deliberate, don't accept rapport from strangers at face value and maintain an alert state of awareness, a conscious state of observing, (if you can't do anything else force yourself to walk away from unearned rapport) otherwise this could be you.

So that's the dark side. What's the positive application of these Jedi mind tricks?

The first thing to realise is that everything we are saying is having an effect anyway.

We can easily provide a whole bunch of embedded instructions completely unconsciously without regard to what were are doing to people.

Let's take a hypothetical work example:

A member of your team is anxious about a forthcoming presentation she has to give to the senior leadership team. She runs through her PowerPoint slides with you in advance.
You could say: "Don't be nervous, I really don't want you to worry or be concerned about forgetting or getting confused, as long as you work really hard to prepare and practice you won't mess up."

Is she feeling inspired at this point, or is she nervous, worried and concerned that she has to work really hard and will then still mess up.

How about:

And as you talk through each slide really well you may notice in your mind some of your audience starting to nod in agreement.

Or maybe

As you go through this presentation and prepare like this, you can start to notice how confident you can become about the content and you begin to realise how well things will go, as you focus on presenting easily with clarity, energy and enthusiasm. Can't you? That's right.


Once again, everything you say is having an effect anyway; it must be so, right? Then the simple question is, do you want to be conscious, or unconscious about the effect you are having?

You can choose to be aware, or beware what you can achieve either way. And actually as you think about it, it's not that tricky is it? no, to know how you can start to apply these approaches for yourself.

And I don't know if that's sooner or later when you can start to empower yourself and others like this, I know you know it's good for you and guess what, it's good for them, so when would now be a good time.

Because you can. Can't you? That's right.

[markysparklies]

Also when he says "You don't mind me asking? YOU'RE HAPPY TO GIVE THAT TO ME" There's the suggestion.

[rmorales]

I can testify personally that this is real. One time my cousin handed out a gold chain, gold bracelet, watch and wallet to a complete stranger in plain daylight. He lost about $3000 that day and to this day he does not know how this could have happened.

[LFOVCF]

Those of you who have done no study on psychology, hypnosis, suggestibility, NLP etc. will obviously struggle to get their head round this. It is not fake, scripted or uses, stooges, it's a polished refined script, where every word has effect. For instance.."You don't mind me asking you? (gets initial compliance).."You're happy to JUST GIVE THAT TO ME?"....followed by confusion with a natural swapping of items, followed by a command while using a pattern interrupt of holding his hand aloft 0:28 then asks for his watch. Some will be effected, some wont. When a person is confused, their mind looks for relief from it, so looks for guidance or instruction etc. if a carefully placed command is given, many will comply. His last reassuring command was "You're fine", which also gives relief from the confusion. Only when the man's mind emerges from confusion, does he realise what was asked of him, but Derren is so very good at this technique, that he instantly confuses him again, and does it again. You can stop crying fake now it's been explained. Remember, just because YOU don't understand how it's done, doesn't make it fake. My credentials? 15 years a hypnotist, NLP master practitioner, and therapist. Years of study and practice!

[TheRealHustleOfficial]

Now that's one Hustle we'd love to try!

[thatrabbitvideo]

absolutely brilliant, i don't care was what anyone says, i don't even care how he does it, he is so impressive. Best illusionist i've ever seen

[xrobbattx]

Listen to the things he says, "You don't mind me asking?" "You're happy to give that to me?" It's subtle ways to condition someone psychologically, and the way he handed him the water bottle maybe adds to it. If Derren gives him something of his maybe he'll feel more inclined to give something back? Probably loads of subtle tricks like that on top of it.

[KingAdonisDNA]

He said this worked on two thirds of people he tried this on. Bearing in mind that he is very good at reading people, I.e. people who are more open to suggestion.

[nikbates]

The real question is how many times did this fail and they just edited it out?

[danutd]

It's alright, the guy's from Liverpool so he's used to his things being stolen.